"…" Speech
'…' Thought
*…* Implied words

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade'

'I'm no angel, I'm no goddess. Am I still good anough for you?'
****************

Chapter 9: Falling tears, a falling feather

Kai's crimson orbs fluttered open. He grabbed his head in pain, allowing a small groan to escape his
lips. Rolling over he checked the time.

"What! 8:00?" Kai jumped out of bed and into the bathroom, grabbing his wash things and locking the
door after him. His head throbbed with pain, he could hardly remember what had happened last night
but dark circles round his eyes and his paler-than-usual skin gave him hints of the late night event.

Why did he ever agree to this? Dryx was wearing him down in an effort to gain control.

'If he feels what I feel he should be wearing himself down too,' Kai thought, so how come Dryx seemed
as strong as ever? He shook his head and went down to the training area for practice

The rest of his team-mates were in the area with the White Tigers and, much to Kai's annoyance, the
Terrabladers. He didn't like training with others but he was team leader so he had to make sure his team
was improving especially with their match coming. He stood close enough to view the training but far
enough for him to feel comfortable.

A highway-training dish was slightly raised; it was more of an obstacle course with a timer running.
Ray was currently trying the course but it looked as if he was struggling, his blade wobbled and
dropped speed as obstacles popped out to bar his way.

"Keep going!" Ray called. His blade was nearing the end of the course as the timer ticked by.

Suddenly a red block blocked half of the track forcing Ray's blade to turn sharply so that it wouldn't
crash.

"Thirty seconds!" Mariah called.

"Yeah, way to go!" Tyson patted him on the back. "Ten second faster and you would have tied with the
high score of twenty seconds!"

"Let me try now!" Minako jumped up and down. "Speed is my speciality!"

She stood up by the dish and readied her launcher as Max started the timer and Tyson did a count
down.

"3…2…1…Let it rip!"

Minako pulled the cord. Her blade landed on the high way and raced along the tracks. Her blade
wobbled slightly but she was doing okay despite her undignified screams. "Ah! No! To the left, to the
left! No, the other left! AH!"

The time was fifteen seconds as she neared the end when suddenly the same red block Ray had
encountered popped up.

"Watch out!" Minako screamed a warning but she was going to fast. Her blade smacked into the red
barricade and went flying into the air, landing on the floor in front of her.

"Oh, and I nearly did it too," Minako moaned as she bent down to pick up her blade. Her eyes turned to
meet Kai's. He had the same cold glare he always had on his face; he looked at her with disdain at her
pitiful performance. She fidgeted a bit and broke off. She knew she had just shown him a terrible
display of her skill.

'And now he'll forever think of me as a weak, pathetic looser.'

"That was terrible. You better shape up," Sam warned. "The match is today and we can't afford to loose
especially with Tori out of action."

"Oh, I get it now," Minako smirked.

"Yeah," Kevin piped in. "It all comes together now."

"Huh? What does?" Tyson looked at his team-mates and the other two teams for an explanation.

"Nothing!" Sam blushed. "That reminds me, Tori wanted me to give you his pep talk."

"If you screw up I'll chuck you off the team," Minako rolled her eyes. "We know!"

"Yeah, whatever," Sam glared at the red haired girl.

Kai slunk away from the main group unnoticed; he disliked training with others and he wanted to test
the full potential of Dryx's power.

Once he was as far away as he felt necessary he fitted his blade onto his launcher. The familiar warmth
of Dranzer's red flames coursed through his body with uncertainty as he fired it into the plain training
dish.

'I know, Dranzer, there's a risk that Dryx will take over my body but it's one I'm willing to take if it'll
make me stronger.'

Kai's eyes were fixed on his spinning blade; it spun steadily and rapidly, making the edges look like a
blue blur.

'But I can do better,' Kai thought 'This isn't perfection, it still can be improved.'

Kai continued to stare reproachfully at his blade. Slowly the excitable yells and screams from other
bladers began to fade into the background. He could concentrate on Dranzer's progress and nothing
else.

'This is it, Dranzer, Dryx will enhance our skill.'

Kai's vision was definitely changing and then his hearing changed as well, he could now here his heart
thump right by his ears. Maybe Dryx was altering images by changing the electrical signals that went
to his brain but that didn't explain why he could hear his heart beating so loudly.

'Is this what Boris meant?' Kai wondered. 'Is this what he meant when he said it could alter human
consciousness and eliminate all distractions'

But it kept on going from there. Before he could stop it all he could see and was the blade and his heart
beat. Kai desperately tried to return his senses to normal but he couldn't break free, all he could think of
was the blade. It was the only think he could concentrate on.

A small growl escaped his lips, how would he get out of this? He felt his energy drain away as he
struggled to break free.

'Dranzer, what do I do?' Kai asked but no reply came. His head was spinning now; it was spinning as
fast as Dranzer was.

"Dammit!" Kai yelled as he gritted his teeth, trying not to let the pain show.

"Kai!" Someone was yelling but it was too faint and muffled for him to distinguish who it was. "KAI!"
It was louder this time, like a streak of light in the darkness it cut through his mind. Kai's eyes widened,
he looked around in shock to find himself standing at the dish, hi blade still spinning steadily.

"Kai…are you okay?"

Kai blinked at the familiar voice. It was Minako. He nodded, picking up Dranzer he went to sit down
on one of the benches in the area.

Minako followed him and sat down besides him but, to her surprise, he didn't move away or look the
least bit annoyed but instead he looked tired.

"You don't look so good," Minako voiced her thoughts. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine," was the annoyed reply.

"Uh…" Minako stumbled with her words.

"What!?" Kai growled. He was already mentally kicking himself for not being able to control Dryx.

"Um…" Minako was running and tripping on her words, desperately trying to find something to say.
"Um…about that course," Minako gulped, it was the first thing to pop into her mind. "Well I was
wondering if…you know, if I could beat the high score you'd perhaps…" she trailed off. There was a
minute of silence. Minako fidgeted under the intense stillness, looking everywhere except at Kai.

"If you don't have anything to say then go away." Kai ordered.

"Uh…okay…I'll see you later?" Minako rose from her spot and stood in front of Kai, waiting for him
to return the goodbye but no reply came.

~ Later ~

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls to the English championships! I'm your host, A.J.
Topper!" A.J. announced as bladers and beyblade fans all poured into the stadium.

"And I'm Brad Best, welcome to the newly constructed Metropolitan stadium here in the heart of
London!"

Inside the modern stadium the Terrabladers were sitting on the bench, Tori was there too with his eyes
closed calmly. The Bladebreakers including Kai and White Tigers were sitting amongst the crowds
watching the match carefully.

"And it's the Terrabladers versus the Singapore Sensei!" A.J. fed the crowd with information. "And it's
Minako of the Terrabladers up against Benji of the Singapore Sensei!"

"Now let's check out Minako Hoshino!" Brad Best suggested as the profile page appeared on the wide
screens around the stadium. "With incredible speed her bitbeast Usagi is definitely no Easter bunny!"

"And what about Benji?" A.J. Topper continued where Brad had left off. "He's one mean blader with
his beast Tytrie he's no push over!"

"Okay, get to the battles already!" Tyson yelled impatiently at the commentators. His wish was soon
granted as the two bladers took their places at each end of the dish. The area in front of them opened
and a dark, dingy blading dish rose up between them.

"And it looks like they'll be blading in the spooky Tower of London dish!" A.J. declared.
"3…2…1…Let it rip!"

They launched their blades into the dish at the same time and immediately clashed against each other.
Minako's blade kept banging against Benji's light blue blade but she didn't seem to be wearing him
down, instead she was the one who was loosing speed.

"Pure strength won't win the fight," Benji said sternly.

Minako gritted her teeth together and backed down from attacking. As much as she hated it he was
right, he had a high defence. She had to find some other way of winning against him.

"Usagi! Earth rain!" Minako commanded. Her rabbit bitbeast arose in an aura of white and black lights.
It thrust its paws forward and large boulders rained from the sky.

Benji's blade was not fast enough to dodge all of them as it was hit by several boulders and several
more hit the dish and made its surface uneven and unstable.

"It's wobbling!" Minako exclaimed happily. "Yeah, go for the kill! Earth rain!"

"Tytrie!" Benji yelled for his green jackal to appear. "Tytrie! Dagger claw!"

"Counter it, Dizzy punch!" Minako screamed. The two beasts collided, nothing could be seen for a
while but when the dust disappeared only one blade were left spinning: Minako's blade.

"Yeah! I won!" Minako scooped up her blade and jumped about happily. She sent a 'thumbs up' sign to
the spectators and winked cheerfully at her team-mates. Turning her attention back to the crowds she
searched the stands for Kai. He had his eyes closed and his head was leaning back.

'Don't tell me he slept through my great performance!' Minako mentally whined. He must of felt her
eyes on him because, at that moment, he opened one crimson eye to glare at her. Minako blushed from
the embarrassment of being caught staring at him and scampered to the bench.

Kai closed his eyes again. He shouldn't be here; he should have left it to Kenny to record the data
instead of going along to the stadium when he was already exhausted but no, he had to be stubborn and
make sure that Kenny didn't leave out any details.

"What a stunning win for the Terrabladers!" Brad smiled. "And it looks like Ami will be up next!"

"She's got one strange technique, I'll give you that," A.J. said "But I guess that makes her pretty
unpredictable. As for Xiaolang of the Singapore Sensei, now that's a solid blader. His bitbeast Bariel
will bowl you over!"

"3…2…1…Let it rip!"

Ami launched her blade rather hastily into a woodland blading dish. Her purple and silver blade
immediately made a bee line for the cover of the forests.

"Why are you hiding? Are you scared?" Xiaolang mocked her.

'Maybe a little,' Ami's mind wanted to confess but she was a professional and professionals didn't
confess their weaknesses.

"Ami!" Sam stood up and yelled at the blonde haired girl. "You won't win by hiding! Go offensive!"

"Don't worry, you won't be able to hide for long. Bariel, uproot those trees! Air stream!"

The small fake trees moaned in the gale, they bent and snapped under the sheer force, swirling in the
convection currents before being blasted out of the arena. Ami's blade was now exposed to any attack
and with nowhere to hide.

"No, don't run! Attack!" Sam tried to convince Ami to fight but Ami was too tied up to pay any
attention to her team-mate's advice.

"How did you ever get onto a team?" Xiaolang looked at her with disgust. "The Terrabladers must be
really desperate. Well, then I'll end this, shall I? Air stream!"

"Ara! Burrow!" Ami managed to yell. "Her bitbeast appeared in a flash of purple and dived in the
ground.

Kai leaned forward to get a better glimpse of the beast. Maybe it was his imagination; maybe his
memory was still faulty but wasn't that…

"Tarae?" Kai whispered too softly for anyone else to catch.

"No, don't burrow! You're leaving you're blade vulnerable to attacks!" Sam was literally banging her
head against the nearest wall. "What did I do to deserve this? Why must I have such incompetent fools
for team-mates?"

The wind attack hit Ami's blade with full force, sending it shooting into Ami's arms. Her beast returned
to the blade shortly afterwards, knowing that they had been defeated.

"Sorry," Ami apologised as she returned to the bench. "I do this every time, just kick me off already!"

"Not in the middle of a tournament," Tori said sternly.

'Oh, so they're gonna kick me off after the tournament?'

"I'm up," Sam sighed. Bringing out her launcher as she approached the dish.

"It's the final round to decide which team will make their way to the next round! And it's Sam against
Gloria" A.J. yelled.

"Hey, Tori," Minako whispered. "Do you mind if I sneak out on this one? I promised my mum I'd go
see her."

Tori sighed and nodded, receiving a grateful smile from Minako. Tori just shrugged as if to say
"Whatever" and resumed his watch on the match.

~ Minako's mum's house ~

Minako took a deep breath as she stepped up to the blue painted door. How many years had it been
since she had last saw her mother? Inhaling deeply she pressed the door bell. It opened and a green
eyed, red head in a skirt and T-shirt beamed at Minako.

"Hello! Guten Täg!" Minako smiled.

"Minako!" the woman smiled and hugged her. Gesturing her to come in. The familiar smell of baking
and the warmth of a gas fire greeted Minako as she walked in.

"Please, eat something," she offered Minako.

"Err…no thanks." Minako refused as she wandered into the main room. The gas fire was on full blast
in the room, fluffy carpet tempted Minako to take off her shoes, the TV was off and the piano was
currently open.

"You've been playing," Minako said, it was more of a statement than a question but her mother either
didn't notice or chose to take it as a question.

"Yes, I've been doing my own songs," she answered. "I know I'm not very good at it but I think I've
finally got the hang of it." She sat down at the piano and began to play. Minako made herself
comfortable by sitting on the sofa, calmly, she leaned back and let the soft cords her mother was
playing wash over her.

//I'm waiting for you to give me a kiss
Waiting to make sure you love me
Waiting for that feeling of bliss
Am I waiting pointlessly?//

Minako raised her head out of her comfortable position and stared at her mother as if she had never
seen her before.

//Falling tears, a falling feather
I'm falling, falling forever
Falling tears, a falling feather
I'm falling, falling forever//

How strange that that song was describing the way Minako was feeling when she thought of her love
life. It wasn't going anywhere, in fact, she was falling rather than flying, she was falling to sorrow and
despair all because she kept her feelings bottled up inside.

// I tried to soar with torn wings
But I can't find the strength to fly
I tried to tell you everything
But it all comes out a lie//

//Falling tears, a falling feather
I'm falling, falling forever
Falling tears, a falling feather
I'm falling, falling forever//

As she hit the last key, as she sang the very last note she turned and smiled at Minako.

"I'll add more later. So, what do you think?"

"Mum, did you write that for dad?" Minako asked softly. The smile across her face began to fade; she
suddenly became serious.

"Well I was thinking of him when I wrote this."

"Well, I should go, I have to find out if we won. Tschuss!" Minako excused herself quickly. She didn't
know why but there was something about that song that made something inside her click. She ran for
the next bus back to the hotel as if it was the end of the world.

~ Hotel ~

Minako sprinted into the training area, sending apologetic nods at the people she clumsily bumped into
as she ran.

"Whoa! It's okay, we won!" Sam beamed as she caught Minako by the collar. "Oh, and you'll be
pleased to know that the White Tigers went through too!"

Minako stopped and panted. Her team-mates were all training again in what looked like another
obstacle course beydish. She would have stopped and tried it out but she was in a hurry.

"Where's Kai!" Minako almost screamed.

"Oh, I see, you want to so some training with him?" Sam teased.

"This is important!" Minako yelled, almost at the verge of loosing her temperature.

"He's probably training his team for their match tomorrow, he should be somewhere around here,
probably at the obstacle course we were at before the match," Tori informed her.

"Thanks!" Minako cried and shot of in the direction of the dish, almost tripping over loose stones as
she ran.

"Wow, what a ditz!" Sam whistled.

Minako ran to the familiar obstacle dish, just as Tori had predicted Kai was standing at his usual
distance away from the team.

'Dam! Why do the other Bladebreakers have to be here?' Minako whined to herself. 'Wait why am *I*
here? Was it that song?' Yes, it had to be that song.

//I'm waiting for you to give me a kiss
Waiting to make sure you love me
Waiting for that feeling of bliss
Am I waiting pointlessly?//

That first verse had gotten to her. Was she waiting for nothing? Was she waiting for Kai to make the
first move? If she was then she was waiting for nothing, she had to be the one to make the first move
not the other way round.

'What if he doesn't like me? He never seemed to notice me,' Minako said doubtfully. 'Well you never
know unless you try.' She shook her head and approached the slate haired blader, out of all the stupid
things she had ever done this one was about to take the pie.

"Kai?" Minako whispered so that the others wouldn't notice her presence. She approached a little
cautiously, wondering if she had made a will yet. She wasn't as much afraid of Kai as she was nervous;
she always seemed to screw up when she was around. Kai looked a little better since the last time she
saw him but his skin was still paler than usual.

Kai opened one eye to shoot an annoyed glare at her.

'RUN! You can still run!' Minako's brain was screaming.

"Kai, I was wonderingifyoucoulddosomethingforme!" Minako blurted it all out.

"In English please," Kai's full attention was on her as she shuffled her feet nervously.

"I was wondering if you'd do something for me?" Minako said bravely, the silences between Kai's
responses were eating away at her insides.

After a while she realised that Kai was waiting for her to continue, blushing at her foolishness she took
a deep breath like an adventurer gathering her courage to step into uncharted territory. "If I can finish
this course in less than twenty seconds," she indicated the obstacle course the Bladebreakers were
training with. "If I can finish in less than twenty seconds than would you do something for me? Would
you…" She took another deep breath, using all her strength to barely utter the next few words.
"W…Would you…give me my first kiss?"

Minako was ready to it herself because just as she said the last part of her sentence everything seemed
to go quiet so everyone could hear her request.

"Wow, Minako…" Max whistled. Behind him Tyson was drawing his finger across his neck as if to
say: "Wrong move!"

There was more awkward silence between Minako, Kai and the rest of the Bladebreakers. All eyes
were on Kai, waiting for his answer.

'Did she just ask for a kiss?' Kai's brain was moving a mile a minute. 'I was never trained for this. What
am I supposed to say? Should I agree, no why should I? Kisses are spawned from emotion and
emotions will just make me weak.'

"Are you serious about beyblading?" Kai glared at Minako. "You should always strive to beat the
records because you want to be strong not because you can get a prize out of it!" Kai gave her one last
glare as he walked off.

'Well, today you've just run out on your mum, made a fool of yourself and what else? Oh yeah, Kai
who will now stay as far away from you as possible just rejected you! Way to go Mina!" Her brain said
with malicious sarcasm.

"Yep," Minako sighed. "This one *definitely* takes the pie"

****************

Mizu_Tenshi: Don't kill me! I was gonna have him say yes and then Minako would fail the course but
then I thought that that would be out of character. Sorry about the slow update but I've been really
busy. Where are all my reviewers too!? Come back people! R&R PLEEAASSEE!

Anime4u2 - Uh, sure it looks like a R/M but I'm not assuring that and I ain't updating it till I get loads
of reviews so please, tell the world to come and review!

By the Stars - Sure! I'll leave it whenever you update again. Thanks for your reviews; they cheered me
up a load. Oh, you like Escaflowne, right? Well can you guess where that bit of my story was from?

starwolf - I know it's so horrible! I have to get a bodyguard. Thanks for the support; I need it. AHH! It's
the pencils!

heather - Okay, maybe that was confusing, I hope this cleared it up. He can still use Dranzer but Dryx
enhances their power and stuff. I know, I know, the last part was a disgrace but it was the best I could
do, this is so hard!

Anime the Fallen Angel - Yay! Someone out there likes it! Don't worry I won't hurt Kai too much!
What do you think about the ending? I have no idea how I'm gonna get the together.