Okay... just for those of you who read the first version of Chapter nine... I made a mistake on one part of it. Takao's supposed to say that he wants to go third, not second. So the order is supposed to be Max, Rei and then Takao. 'Kay?... okay!

Immortal Blood

Chapter 10: Jealousy

For the next two days, the Bladebreakers and the White Tigers practiced non- stop. The last day they practiced from four in the morning until sunset. Kai decided to let them get some sleep before their tournament match the next day.

In the morning they headed straight for the China Tower. In the lobby they spot the front desk and walk over to speak to the receptionist.

"Hey!" Takao greeted her enthusiastically. "Have you seen our first opponents? We're the Bladebreakers and we wanted to meet our opponents before our battle." He explained. She looked up, seemingly unimpressed and pointed her pen behind them to a group of bladers who were looking at the list of challengers.

"Luiz!" Takao yells and the group turns around. The tall blond seemed to have changed his dancing style and had black pressed pants and a tidy black blazer on. His shoes seemed to be tap dancing shoes. Mario has also changed a lot from the kid Kai battled almost three years before. He was much taller and seemed to have learned Kai's infamous glare. He narrowed his eyes at his former opponent. Frankie had also changed. She no longer had a tomboyish look about her. She was now tall and feminine, her lilac hair cascading over her shoulders in waves. She immediately recognised Rei and latched onto his arm, oblivious from the furious glare she received from Kai. Even he had to admit that she was beautiful now.

"Rei!" She cried. "I told you we'd meet again." He looked down at her and sweatdropped. He hadn't expected her to recognise him so quickly. He laughed nervously and led her to a seat to catch up. Kai's eyes never left them.

"Congratulations on winning the World Championships." Luiz shook Takao's hand. Takao grinned and shrugged.

"It was nothing." He exclaimed snobbishly. Max rolled his eyes. The two teams chatted for a few minutes before the announcement for the beginning of their battle was heard.

"I guess we'll se you in the arena." Frankie giggled and they all walked towards their locker rooms.

Kai walked quietly beside Rei, but tuned out everything the boy was saying to him.

"It's nice to meet up with old friends." He exclaimed animatedly. "I can't wait to see how much Frankie has improved. She was so full of spunk the last time we met." Kai gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, restraining his jealousy. He knew he didn't have anything to worry about, but Rei wouldn't stop talking about her.

Rei, on the other hand, didn't even notice Kai's checked temper. They walked into the locker rooms and Kai stopped them at the door.

"I'll go in place of Takao." He announced. He needed a way to vent his frustration and if he didn't do it in a battle, he might hurt somebody. And the way Takao's annoying mouth was, it was likely to catch his attention. Rei raised a brow in confusion to him, but Kai refused to meet his eyes. No one argued because the tone of voice he used left no room for debate. Takao shrugged and sat down against a locker.

"I thought you wanted to get an edge over the competition?" He replied. Kai shot him a bland glare and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I changed my mind." He retorted. "I'll make it a quick battle. They'll never know what I did anyways."

"You're so sure of yourself." Rei smirked. "Don't underestimate them." Kai shot him a glare and walked towards the door to the arena.

"Hn. It's time for our match, let's go." He changed the subject and went through the door. His team mates followed.

***

Max faced up against Luiz again and although it was a challenging match, he came up the winner just like their first meeting. Luiz' tap dancing style was very quick and a couple of times Max's blade seemed like a goner.

Rei stepped up to the dish to face off against Frankie. He was mildly surprised.

"I set it up so that we could have our rematch." She beamed at him. He smiled nervously, starting to realise why Kai had been a bit jealous the other night.

"I warn you, I'm a lot stronger than the last time we met." He warned her. She smirked knowingly.

"Of course. So am I." She held up her launcher and loaded her blade. They shot off their blades and began their match. It ended after a few minutes with Rei as the victor.

"You were great!" He called out to her as she bent over to pick up her blade. She looked up and smiled.

"We should hang out later." She exclaimed, motioning to the rest of his team. "Then you guys can tell us all about the World Championships." He smiled back at her brightly.

"That would be great!" but Kai didn't seem to think so. He had seen the way Frankie was looking at Rei all through the battle. He was blinded by his rage and could barely stay in his seat. He wanted to walk calmly over there and throttle the girl who was currently eyeing Rei up as if he was candy. He swallowed a growl and stood up. It was his turn to battle and his opponent was the ever ambitious Mario. He looked up and realized that the boy had been speaking rather loudly at him.

"... I'm going to prove that I can beat you, this time." He shouted at Kai. He seemed to have had all those years to brood over losing to Kai. Kai snorted and held up his blade, staying silent. He had gone back to thinking about Frankie and Rei. Within seconds of the start of their match, Kai's blade was skidding to a stop at Kai's feet. Everyone was stunned. Everyone, that is, except Kai who still seemed to be distracted and hadn't noticed his blade yet. Kai looked down and gasped.

"You were distracted." Mario exclaimed. "I want a fairer fight the next time. I want to battle you when you're focused. I want to beat you fairly." He glared at Kai and walked away. Squeezing the image of his fallen blade out of his mind, Kai clenched his hands and returned to his team mates.

'It's Rei's fault.' He thought to himself. 'Rei's the one who distracted me. If I had kept my mind focused on the battle instead of who he was flirting with I would have easily won that round. He's weakened me.' He walked right past Rei, who was trying to ask him what happened, and out of the stadium. He glided to the bus and waited patiently for the rest of the Bladebreakers to follow him.

***

Rei looked over to Kai. They were sitting on their bus, on the way back to their cabin, and he wouldn't even look Rei in the eye.

"Kai?" He asked. Kai didn't even turn. "What was distracting you?" Kai shot him a deadly glare and returned his gaze to the window of the bus. Rei sighed in defeat. What ever Kai was mad about involved Rei to some degree. He slouched over in his seat and stayed that way for the rest of the trip.

When the bus slowed to a stop, Kai got off and walked towards the forest, ignoring everyone. He needed to clear his head and that meant he didn't need any distractions. The sun's light was fading fast and he knew that sitting by the lake in the darkness would be peaceful enough to leave him with his thoughts.

Rei watched silently as Kai disappeared into the woods. He knew better than to try to follow him out there. He shrugged and turned to his team.

"I'm going to head over to Spintensity's cabin to visit. Do any of you want to join me?" Max and Takao shook their heads.

"We were going to watch some movies." Takao insisted. "But you can go over and get reacquainted with their team again. It's not often you get to catch up with old friends." Takao was starting to babble and Rei got the feeling that their movie night was supposed to be a date. He grinned at the two and nodded. He had learned from Frankie that just about every team from the Asian Championships was staying at their lodge. There would be plenty of opportunities for Takao and Max to catch up with Spintensity.

"You know the real reason Kai lost, ne?" Max piped up just as Rei was turning to leave. He looked back at Max and gave him a questioning look. "He was jealous." Rei rolled his eyes.

"He was not." He dismissed the notion. "Kai knows he has nothing to be jealous about." He turned back and walked to where Frankie had told him their cabin was.

***

Kai found a rock to sit on and put his head in his hands. He knew that his loss wasn't really Rei's fault. He shouldn't have let his emotions control his brain. He knew Rei would never cheat on him. They weren't even really going out technically, so he shouldn't have overreacted. He knew that Rei loved him and no little girl was going to change that in a matter of minutes. He sighed and stared out across the water. The moon was just rising over the water, casting an ethereal glow over everything it could touch, including Kai. He dipped his hand lazily into the water and let the tiny droplets seep through his fingers. He looked up at the moon and sighed once more. He needed to stretch his legs for a bit then he'd go back to the cabin and apologise for being rude to Rei.

"There's really nothing to be jealous over anyways." He muttered to himself and stood up, heading for a small group of cabins.

***

Rei looked up and saw that Frankie had been waiting for him on the front porch. He gave her a warm smile as she stepped down to meet him. He raised a brow at her.

"Mario is still a little miffed that he won so easily." She explained. "Luiz is trying to calm him down. Earlier he was throwing stuff around." She gave Rei a nervous bit of laughter and showed him her bandaged knuckles. "Seems my fist is good at calming too." Rei laughed quietly.

"Why don't we just go for a walk and talk a bit." She offered, looking eagerly up into Rei's amber eyes. He looked down at her cautiously. He knew Kai had nothing to be jealous over so walking with Frankie shouldn't be such a big deal. But deep down he could feel the guilt grab hold of his stomach. He nodded.

"Sure, why not." He mumbled. 'She's only a friend.' He told himself. 'Kai's being a baka.' They set out, weaving in and out of the cluster of cabins near the lake.

After ten minutes of cheerful chatter, Rei realised that Frankie was steering him into a more secluded part of the lodge site while still talking up a storm. Frankie suddenly pulled him close to her and they squeezed into a small space between two cabins. Rei looked down at her and began to feel uncomfortable with how close she was coming.

His head shot towards the space they squeezed through. He could have sworn he heard a twig snap. He did not want to be caught looking like he did with Frankie. It would be much too awkward to explain.

Frankie threw her arms around his neck and held him tightly.

"I'm glad we got a chance to meet again." She whispered. Rei sighed and nodded, putting his arms chastely around her waist. "Close your eyes." She exclaimed softly, leaning up to place her hands behind his head. He looked at her nervously before nodding and closing his eyes.

***

Kai had been wandering around for a good half an hour when he heard animated chatter coming from around a corner. Curiously, he followed the voices until they finally stopped. He shrugged, giving up on the voices and continued walking, until he heard them whispering around the next corner. He kept walking, deciding to take a quick glance and keep walking.

As he passed the opening he stopped in his tracks as he watched the scene unfold.

The boy closed his eyes and the young girl pulled his head down to meet hers. Kai let out a startled gasp when he realised it was Rei and Frankie. He sucked the breath in quickly and his eyes went wide.

'Rei...'

~finis

Yay! I finished that so quickly. Yeah, I know every single one of you now wants to kill me... but... well, they were getting too friendly and I needed to have at least one scene where they have a full out fist brawl. And guess what? Chapter Eleven is the very last one. Yuppers...

Teaser.

Chapter 11: Never Look Back