The Dranon Heiress

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A/N: o.0 . . . something bad's gonna happen!!!!!!! Read and review!

---- Chapter Nine ----

"Get up . . . and go outside."

Kai watched her struggle back to her feet, stagger and then crash into Naoko, who steadied her, but then pushed her away again, face emotionless. She walked through the door, paying no attention to the people around her, who were looking as if they were feeling sorry for her. Even Tala looked slightly remorseful at her battered appearance.

"If anyone interferes while I'm teaching my daughter a lesson," the count said coldly, "they will receive the same treatment. You have been warned."

With that, he followed his daughter outside. Rika, Naoko and Miyuki followed silently, with no reaction whatsoever to their captain's physical state. Kai's blood began to boil as he began to suspect that Rika was the one who had informed the count about the two of them. Chika was her team mate and she had just sold her out! What kind of people were they?

"Mr Dickenson," he whispered urgently to the principal. "Can't you do anything about it? Chika-san's in no state to battle! Both her arms are broken! Can't you call this thing off?"

"I'm afraid I can't, Kai," Mr Dickenson replied sadly. "The count has a right over her. He tells her what to do and what not to - and in this instant, she's obeying him."

"But it's abuse!" Michael protested. "This is child abuse!"

"Sixteen is hardly a child, Michael-kun," Emily told him.

"But she's a fighter," Lee pointed out. "Anyone can tell. She won't let us help."

Kai spun on his heel, scarf billowing out behind him, and left through the open door. He had no time to listen to them arguing about what was child abuse and what wasn't. There was someone who was about to be killed out there, because of him. It was his entire fault that traitorous (A/N: sorry Jenny!) Ketsueki reported to the count about what went on between himself and Chika. He had a mad urge to wring the girl's neck.

--------

[What with?]

I

[All right]

Chika barely managed to stay on her feet, which were so weak from fighting the pain that they almost refused to support her. It was no help that her right forearm and left upper arm was shattered by her father's cane either. Of course, those things healed in due time. She had once had the top of her skull shattered by the same cane when she was ten and it healed in four months. Her father only gave out punishments where they were due - if he had a reason to. She must have broken an important rule to get her father so angry.

'What have you done, Chika?'

'I've been a bad girl.'

'And what does father do to bad girls?'

'He punishes them.'

'With what have you been bad?'

'My hand, father.'

He broke her wrist that time. She had been six years old and had held her Beyblade launcher incorrectly while engaged in a battle. She had won anyway, but Icarus Dranon was not one to forgive mistakes easily, no matter how trivial. Her wrist had healed within three weeks, he had made sure of it and she was careful not to make any mistakes with her launching style again. The incident when he had shattered the top of her skull was when she had battled him and used a faulty strategy he could see through immediately. She was punished for not thinking.

"Positions, Chika," he now said to her. "Let me see how you've improved."

Improvement. That was what he always wanted of her. No matter how good she was, she could never meet his standards. Never once, in her whole life, had she received so much as a 'well done' or 'good' from him. She was never good enough for him and the first question he asked after the formalities would always be: 'have you improved?' But now, she couldn't even HOLD her blade, let alone launch it. That was why she called out to Dranon, seeking its power to help her and heal her wounds enough to let her launch.

[Get into position]

[Just do it]

She used her left hand, which was the only hand that had not been broken, and held the launcher gingerly with her fingertips. Hanging loose in her broken right hand was Dranon, who looked about as lifeless as the concrete she was standing on. The sound of thundering footsteps was heard behind her. Without bothering to turn around, she knew it was Kai.

"3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . LET IT RIP!"

An electrical energy burst through her limbs, flooding out the pain. Not wasting even a split second of that warm comfort, Chika launched Dranon with a ferocity no one had ever seen before. It was a strong start, but as soon as Dranon hit the dish, the energy drained away, leaving her in as much pain as she had been in before. The fight to keep standing was lost - she dropped to her knees, dizzy and nauseous with pain. Trickles of sweat coursed down her face.

Now that Dranon had taken care of the launching, all she needed to do now was focus all her concentration on the battle. The pain could go hang it, she didn't care, because she needed to win this. Her father's blood red Beyblade (A/N: remember? She comes from a Beyblading family stretching back thousands of years) had already disappeared and hers joined it. There was a clash of metal and she felt a sharp sting cut itself across her stomach. Another cut slashed onto her back, then another, crossing it.

"Let's do it, Dranon," she hissed. "Before it gets worse."

--------

From where Kai was standing, the battle was going very badly for Chika. How she had managed to launch her blade was a wonder in itself, but how the deep cuts got onto her back was a mystery. They were open and bleeding profusely, but she made no move to stop it. She was on her knees now, focused hard on the battle, her back to him.

"Chika."

She looked up from the dish to her father. He was looking at her down the arch of his nose, flat and expressionless. His arms were folded and he stood rigid and straight. Kai tensed his senses, alert in case something else happened. But nothing did, except that Count Icarus Dranon seemed to be speaking in iced tones.

"Do you know what your mistakes are?"

"Concentration," she replied automatically, in a hoarse whisper.

"Yes, good," Icarus said, nodding. "But do you also know your greatest weakness?"

She doubled over as another gash appeared on her stomach, oozing blood in liberal amounts. Her face turned ashen and her eyes were a cloudy black. What other mistakes had she made? What was her weakness? She didn't know . . . couldn't tell . . .

"You are so used to obeying me that you immediately answer truthfully to any question I pose," he told her. The faintest hint of a smirk graced his lips. "With the knowledge I can gain by just questioning you, it will be enough to defeat you a hundred times over."

"YOU BASTARD!" Kai roared. "That's a cheap, shameless trick!"

"I'd . . . forgotten," she whimpered, not bothering to hide her fear any longer. "I'd forgotten . . . all about it . . . I - I can't . . ."

"Do you want me to finish this off, Chika? Have you learned your lesson?"

"Yes . . . I have . . ."

"You will return to England and stay there," he ordered. "In due time, you will be affianced to Marco, as the alliance between our two families agreed. Until then, you will remain in the grounds of the castle. Is that understood?"

"You can't do that!"

It was Max, who had come running with the rest of the people from inside the principal's office. They had come out just in time to hear the last part of the count's orders. Rika, Miyuki and Naoko were standing behind the count, backs ramrod straight, utterly silent. They did not move to help Chika, who had suffered some sort of blow to her ribs, which had broken. The two Beyblades had appeared again, Dranon bearing the same afflictions as its blader. The defence ring looked like it had a large crack in it. Kai supposed that was also where she had her ribs broken.

"Give me time," Chika said thickly. Turning to one side, she spat out a mouthful of blood and then paled even further. "I'll do it - just give me two months."

"All right, two months," her father said sternly. "Your mother and I will be here to take you back to England in two months. Until then, Rika will be here to report to me and Nicola and Michelle will come back to England."

"Yes sir," they demurred. She inclined her head stiffly.

"The match is over."

With those words, both Beyblades stopped spinning and clattered noisily onto the dish. Icarus Dranon turned on his heel and strode off, without even a backward glance at his bruised, battered and bleeding daughter. When he had disappeared out the gates, Kai ran forward, watching her in slow motion as she crumpled to the ground.

"Call an ambulance!" Mr Dickenson cried.

"Yes sir!" Roger fumbled for his cell phone and began to dial numbers.

"She's fractured her ribs," Kai told Mr Dickenson as he caught her. "I watched what happened. There are four deep gashes - two on her stomach, two on her back - and she's got multiple breakings in her left upper arm and right forearm. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Look at the dish!" Kenny yelled.

What they saw almost made Kai stumble. The entire metal dish had been weathered by the speed of the two Beyblades. It was now nothing more than a pile of scrap. Rika picked up something red from the pile and turned to go, her Beyblade in hand. Apparently the count had used her Beyblade and bit-beast for the battle. Oliver and Enrique blocked her path.

"What kind of a person are you?" Oliver demanded. "Your friend is there, unconscious, after her own father used YOUR Beyblade to injure her!"

"So?" Rika's voice showed no signs of emotion. "It's not like she hasn't been through worse. This isn't my business, how Count Dranon decides to punish her. I have nothing to do with it."

She left in the direction of the dormitories.

---- End of Chapter Nine ----

A/N: I GOT THAT OVER AND DONE WITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was wondering when I was going to end this! I'm sorry, Jenny, for making your character so HORRIBLE! But of course, you asked for a character with no heart so yeah, that's what I had to do. Naoko and Miyuki are horrible too (in the story of course), but that's because of orders. Plus, we're all terrified of the Count.

Flames welcome, open to suggestions, corrections or ideas.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!

Bittersweet Angel Chika