Griff: I changed the title of the whole thing just now, and I'm sorry that it's first titled 'Breaking the Ice'. Chapter names are staying the same. Might be confusing, but now the story thing is called 'Through the Ice', and the first chapter is still called 'First View of the Phoenix'. Sorry, sorry! Thanks for the reviews, now I know that I'm not messing this up. :D

Kai: *fwaps Griff with a rolled up newspaper*

Griff: OW! *rubs head*

Kai: Make me a soppy nut and I will kill you.

Griff: *adoringly* I luff you too. Now then… On with the second chappie!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblades or its contents.

Through the Ice

Chapter Two, Dazzling Beauty

Outside the hotel, Kai stood leaning against the brick wall, arms crossed behind his head. He cast his auburn eyes over the busy street, so different from the quiet hotel. He turned his gaze to Tyson and Max, who were peering over a brochure, already bored with the entire deal.

'Well? This is how you expect to find her?'

Tyson ignored the slate-haired boy, and continued to look down at the brochure. Max spoke up, pointing to the brochure. 'See, Kai, we're trying to find a mall, or some other girly place. She's probably hanging around there, buying flowers for her fancy bag. The only other thing we know is that her name is Tiana.' Tyson looked up long enough to laugh.

Kai felt a stirring of irritation. What came out of his mouth next was something that even he didn't expect. 'Not all girls are like that.'

The two other teens simultaneously stared up at him. Kai, the 'cold-hearted' Beyblader, was sticking up for some girl? It made no sense. The three teens passed a look to each other, silently agreeing to dismiss what had happened.

Stiffly, Kai decided to change the subject. 'D'you even know what she looks like?' A frown etched at his face as the two others shook their heads. Idiots, he thought.

~*~

An hour later, in the middle of the busy mall, the trio was still looking. They had checked the flower shop, the stylist's, the shop containing all the fluffy stuffed animals, and Tyson had even brought up enough courage to peek in the femme washrooms. He had now begun to complain about his stomach, Max was whining about how they'd never find her, and Kai was on the verge of kicking them.

'Shut up,' he snapped, an arm jolting out to point at a McDonald's, teeming with people. 'Buy something and give me a break from your annoying whining.'

Tyson and Max were happy to oblige, and they scuttled towards the fast-food restaurant, chattering about what hamburger they wanted.

Kai rubbed his forehead, and gave a small growl. This is not getting anywhere, he thought, extremely irritated. At that moment, Tyson dashed up to him, tugging on his scarf.

'Kai Kai Kai, there's a pet-store there and there's lots of animals can we pleeease go there?'

Kai blinked down at him, and snatched his scarf away from the grasp of the shorter teen. 'Where's Max? What about the girl?'

'She could be there. Max went home. But I want to see the cats and birds and hamsters and - '

'Alright!' Kai yelled, cutting across Tyson's ceaseless gibbering. 'Let's go.' He followed Tyson to the pet-store in silent annoyance.

~*~

'Ooh, look at that! Hey, isn't that cute? What about this one?' Tyson stopped his ranting quite suddenly and Kai looked away from a molting parrot to stare at him.

'Is that…?' Tyson pointed a finger. Following the direction he was pointing at, Kai saw her immediately. Her short hair fell in a shell of light hazel color, and her shimmering emerald eyes were fixed on a retriever puppy. Her yellow tank was tight fitting, naturally showing off the curves of her upper-body. Her arms were bare, and on both her wrists were spiked bracelets, banded underneath two wristbands. Around her neck was a silver chain, and baggy black jeans completed her outfit.

'Yeah. That's her.' Kai said grimly, with a certain degree of knowing. She was different from the rest, not only by her code of dress, but just by the way she held herself; chin up, as if thinking less of the other people. She turned around, and as if Fate willed it, gazed straight back at Kai. Kai stared evenly back. Tyson stared at Kai, then at the girl, then back at Kai. The girl's supposed to look at me, Tyson grumbled to himself. Why would anyone want to look at HIM? He silently looked to Kai, then back to the girl.

[I dunno, but it seems best if I write this part in the girl's {Tiana, you guessed it} POV]

She straightened up, hand on hip, in an almost cocky position. Her emerald eyes roved up and down Kai's muscular form, then settled on his face. With a half-smile, she took out a piece of paper, and quickly wrote something on it. The sixteen-year-old girl walked right up to him. Her face never leaving his, she placed the paper in his hand, and without a word, walked away.

Kai looked down at the paper. It wrote, 'If you ever get bored…' followed by the name 'Tiana' and a phone number. He pocketed the slip of paper and silently left, Tyson spluttering indignantly all the way.

*****

Griff: *excitedly* How was it? Did you like it? I know that sometimes, the reader gets annoyed if a character gets OOC, so I'm trying my best to make Kai as cold and not talkative as possible, but not too much that he seems like a snob.

Kai: Snob?

Griff: Uh, snob? Did I say that? *angelic look* Read and review! ^_~