THE RIGHT DECISION

By: Glay

All his life, Kai had been making the wrong decisions. Hundreds and hundreds of wrong turns and bad outcomes littered his history. The weight of these decisions crushed him to the point of where he felt about ready to collapse. There was just nothing he could do against them.

Wherever he went there would always be different paths to follow. There would always be another choice looming around the corner, waiting to spring on him. Kai Hiwatari did not like choice. Being brought up in the abbey, so many years ago, in the cold of Russia… He had no choice but to adapt; and he became as cold as Russia itself. It was as if he had been perpetually blinded by the bright whiteness of a snowstorm and he had to just keep walking forward. No turning back.

Because one wrong move could sweep you away into a white oblivion. Into a world he did not know.

So Kai kept walking forward, occasionally following the directions that were commanded of him.

When he had left Russia, all that had changed.

Freedom was something that was new and inexperienced for Kai. He relished in the way he could move around without any constraints on him at all. There was no one there to pull his strings, or steer him where he didn't want to go. However, his grandfather still had control of him. He gave Kai a home and was also the one who told Kai to beyblade and win…

He joined in the regional qualifiers tournament in town. The one he had been champion of the year before. As the defending champion he knew what went on. All he had to do was beat a couple hundred rookies and then collect his trophy.

However, that year had been different.

Takao…

Takao Kinomiya was just a lucky rookie who fluked his way into the semi-finals. At least, that was what Kai had first thought. He was just a stupid kid who he'd battled before.

And tied.

That had really thrown Kai for a loop because no one had ever beaten him before. It was a change that skewed everything he believed himself to be.

Which was perfection.

He shrugged it off as another fluke. A coincidence that the same kid who tied him was going to go head to head with him in the final match.

He had watched Takao in the waiting room before the match – celebrating his birthday – and thought about what would happen if he had taken the treat box Takao offered.

That wasn't really a mistake.

Then they entered the stadium and it was decided that the final match would be in a cage.

Finish it quickly, his grandfather had said. And leave no time for the opponent to think.

He was just a rookie, Kai figured.

And then he lost.

It was then that he was faced with his first real decision. The head of the BBA, the most well-known and respected Beyblading association, came down with a smile on his face. The BBA represented the good about Beyblading. It practiced sportsmanship religiously and most importantly – everyone had fun.

All of Kai's training had been in the cold…

A bright spotlight was lit upon Kai and Takao. The large beam of light hit their faces, making them both look radiant.

Mr. Dickinson had announced that he and Takao, along with Max and Rei, would be joining together to create a new championship team.

Team BBA.

Somehow, it seemed as though that team would represent more than just a grouping of highly skilled bladers. It would become more special than anyone realised. And Kai didn't know it then, but it would become special to him too.

Kai had looked over in shock at the boy who had defeated him and noticed that the light had brought out his smile.

He didn't think that it was right to defy his grandfather. To join a team meant to work with other people. Kai had always been alone. It was a change that was always too far away for him to reach. Like a dying star's light finally reaching them years after fading away.

Kai accepted.

Because even though their light had faded, every star still had a heart…

***

He used to think that maybe Rei could have shown him the way through the blizzard. Rei was a fellow teammate and calm – something that would be easy to hold onto.

But he'd seen it.

There was no use to try and pull the Chinese boy into his own freezing hell. Rei was always floundering in troubles of his own… Max had been as well. His parents' separation still hung over his head, and he didn't have the mentality to offer more than the companionship… to help wait out the storm with you… Kyouji too wrapped up in his world of data and statistics to show any promise at being someone to pull you out of the darkness… knee-deep in problems that threatened to change their lives.

They all were sinking in their own minds. The whole world was.

Except Takao.

There was just something about Takao that made you want to be near him. It was almost like gravity – as if there was a force so strong inside Takao that you couldn't keep away…

Kai hadn't even needed a split second before he knew. Takao was the one…

It was this feeling – this feeling of attraction – that made Kai decide to fight back. Already he had been pushed onto a different path in his life by the creation of Team BBA. It's hard enough to go somewhere new without taking some old memories along with you.

But what Takao did, he dropped everything and left. Maybe that was what was so compelling about the boy. That Takao could leave everything behind and still find happiness in an unexplored world. That he could walk into a storm and come out with the lost people he'd found within it…

Because you cannot pick new things up without putting old things down…

Kai was stubborn. He had been forced onto a new road, with new decisions and choices making it more unbearable by the minute, and he just couldn't let go.

He wanted to remember what it was like when he didn't have freedom, but couldn't.

So he clung to the memory of a loud rookie, who had changed his life in the space of a heartbeat, and never allowed him to look back. Kai even went as far to believe that he hated Takao because of it. It's so much easier to hate something you don't understand than for you to like it.

If that was the case then… why did Takao even bother with him?

Takao may have had called him a jerk and arrogant… maybe even cold, and Kai knew it was true. However, he was always by his side. As if he were one of the lost souls floundering in a sea of freezing whiteness, and needed someone to help him out of it.

Kai didn't like help.

They had accidentally been left in Europe on their way to Russia. Along the way, Takao had suffered many defeats.

The heat of his determination would roll off in waves, and it intrigued Kai.

What made Takao act this way?

He had hid behind a tree, watching as the boy battled one of Europe's most prized Beybladers. And he had hoped that Takao would win.

It's only because he needs the practice, Kai had reassured himself. You can't rely on anyone but yourself. Takao needs to learn that.

Still he had hoped…

They participated in a match between the Majestics, snobby European Beybladers who were powerful and everyone thought they could beat Team BBA. Kai had been battling an obnoxious redhead, someone who was putting a block in his path.

And Kai needed to get around it.

He couldn't lose. Another loss and he didn't think he'd be able to bear the path before him. He'd have to leave and get away from Team BBA because the emotions it invoked in him were so strong his couldn't control them.

Anger. Jealousy. Determination. Hurt. Victory. Pride. Freedom. Love…

Then loud words of encouragement and advice grabbed his attention, making his head whirl with anger. What right did Takao had to come so close? To tell him what to do?

To try and show him the way through the white…

Dranzer, Fly!! He had called and then he won…

Takao was waiting for him afterwards, a giant smile on his face that stood out like it had in the spotlight that time ago… Everyone else's comments paled in comparison to what he said.

But Kai knew that he couldn't – wouldn't – be pulled in by Takao's beautiful and encouraging words…

He'd have to create his own barrier. Something invisible so it would be more difficult to identify and destroy. Because you can't break invisible barriers – you have to get around them…

Somewhere underneath, everyone is always trying to get farther ahead on his or her path, and there was no way that Takao would want to take Kai along with him…

Kai didn't want his help and told him so.

That had been the wrong decision.

***

They made it to Russia and the cold hit his skin. The chill of the wind was a familiar stinging against him and he walked alone as if the old memories were catching up to him.

He didn't want anyone to know…

For Takao to know that he had dark secrets he'd still been holding onto…

When they reached the abbey he'd left so long ago, he knew. The memories flooded back in and there was just no way he could cope with them all. They seeped along every good thing that had ever happened to him while being on Team BBA, and tainted them with the ever-underlying fear.

That someday he'd loose everything he'd gained from the team. From the promise in Takao's voice…

He took Black Dranzer into his palm and stared at it. He wanted so desperately to know that that beyblade – that past he had left behind – could help guide him through the strengthening storm raging around him.

He clutched it in his fist, and his cool burgundy eyes hardened. Black Dranzer gave him a power that would let him wield his own future. He'd first build up the power – steal the competing team's bit beasts – and then he'd be able to assure that he would never be lost again.

He wouldn't need the help of a team.

You'd only need yourself, he told himself, anything less than perfection deserves to be left behind.

That's how he left Dranzer.

In Takao's slightly shaking hand. He looked back one last time into the longhaired boy's face and saw that…

Takao didn't want him to abandon his old Dranzer.

Because some things you should never let go…

He had made the wrong decision.

***

Kai had set out to defeat Team BBA. The group of people he had come so very close to calling 'friends.' They were on a frozen lake – ice spanning all around them.

It was as beautiful as it was dangerous because they were all teetering on the edge of something thin and fragile.

Ice.

Trust.

It is so much easier to fight something when no feelings exist within you. It was Kai's weakness. He could feel the heat begin a steady burn growing stronger. He could feel the emotions pouring into his heart, because Takao cared…

The ice broke apart, trust that was slipping away so fast. Melting as if Kai's feelings were burning like the sun. But when Takao – his rival, enemy… friend – reached across and told him to take his hand, Kai just couldn't keep away…

Ice has little to no friction. Kai had been slipping farther and farther away… Sometimes it hurts when you slip on the ice, and it's more difficult to get back up. And have you ever just laid there in the coldness, thinking that you could stay there forever? And it wouldn't matter if you froze because…

Takao's hand clasped firmly over his own sending a shock of warmth running through it.

That was the beginning of Kai's realization.

Feelings made Kai weak and they made Takao strong. But, the thoughts swirled in his mind, what if we were feeling the same thing…?

What kind of emotion could make one person weak and another glow with confidence?

He didn't know it then but that was the right path.

***

Takao wanted to fight NeoBorg first but Kai didn't let him. The team captain decided that he, himself, would take the first match.

It was a step he'd never taken before. He was making his own path.

Takao couldn't help but smile. It was almost smug in a way, because Takao knew that this was a big event. He was proud. Kai was starting to make his own choices. Not only for himself, but also for the benefit of the team…

And then Kai smiled back.

He was beginning to run forward now. The blizzard had lessened and stopped covering his tracks. Soon he might be able to make it out of there.

Because with every step he took, the world became bigger by that much…

***

He was losing again. Team NeoBorg vs. Team BBA.

During the break time, feeling hollow where his perfection once was, his grandfather came to him bearing a gift in hand.

Black Dranzer.

It would give you your power back, his grandfather had said.

Kai was shocked.

Don't you want to be able to control your destiny?

Yes, Kai did. He wanted it so much because he was always wandering around – falling into different paths that turned out to be the wrong ones. It must have been the weakness he got in his chest when he looked at his friends – at Takao. That was what was causing his downward spiral. His perfection had been tainted with imperfect people like Takao. Flawed people who held love and friendship above all else.

With more power he'd be able to find his way…

He took the bit into his hand and was about to turn a corner when –

I can't stop bothering him, Takao said determinedly. Kai needs help, and I can't ignore that.

Kai didn't want his help!

He stalked through the hall, and the longhaired boy placed a hand on his shoulder.

He felt weak again. The feeling was more powerful and mind controlling than the darkness in his hand. It consumed him and built until it exploded.

It felt like butterflies in his stomach.

Don't touch me, Kai gritted out and Takao almost obeyed.

He didn't look back as he walked out towards the Beystadium. He didn't need to see Takao's face again – didn't need to turn around and watch someone so kind get so far away from him… Didn't have the courage to leave something that could be so wonderful…

His fist clenched around his beyblade before opening slowly.

Kai took the Black Dranzer bit out of his Beyblade and replaced it with his regular one. If he won this… it wouldn't be a win for his grandfather.

It'd be for himself and for the person who didn't give up on him.

If he didn't win…

He just hoped he was making the right decision.

***

He lost.

However, his grandfather hadn't won.

It felt like a victory in defeat and he knew Takao understood…

***

All Kai could think about, standing there with his arms clenched across his chest, was that Takao was trapped in the blizzard.

There was a giant mound of ice encasing the two battling boys. It blocked everything out of Yuri's own little world. Takao was trapped.

There was nothing he could do and it felt as though he had hit another block in the road. A barrier that he was depending on Takao to break down.

And he needed this just as badly as everyone else did.

He needed to be fully free once more. He needed to know that his cause for freedom would always be there…

And then Takao became victor, and Beyblading champion of the world.

It was what Kai had wanted all along for himself, but this time he could no longer feel jealousy. Or hate. Or the pain that would become so strong when he felt lost.

All that was overcome with the love

***

He retired from Beyblading a couple of short months later. Max moved to America. Rei went back to China. Kyouji went home to Japan.

Takao told him to come home with him… and Kai – so set on his new path, so rooted to the happiness he'd acquired – couldn't follow.

How could he just leave everything good he'd managed to build up and leave it all behind?

Something in his heart was telling him to drop everything – Team BBA was over, they had won – and follow Takao back home to a beautiful dojo waiting for them in Japan. The storm had blown away completely leaving only clear blue skies before him. There was so much to explore, so much he could do

I won't just come with you like a puppy Takao, he had thought.

We may have been a team but now that we've served our purpose there's no point in staying together, is there?

Takao had looked a bit miffed at his explanation but said anyway, it doesn't matter to me either, but – he had smiled.

How can you know the right decision is to be alone?

Kai could not answer that, so he did what he could. He walked away and didn't look back.

But Takao was what had made everything possible…

***

He wanted to see him again – badly. It was almost as if another being was controlling him deep inside. There was a carnal urge to seek out what he'd left behind so long ago.

One last beybattle, he'd tell himself day after day while staring out into the horizon and seeing Takao's face.

That's what I want to see him for. He's the only one who ever gave me a challenge – who ever could.

He was the only one who had ever tried to touch him.

And succeeded.

Kai had stared sullenly at his display case, which showed off his many trophies and medallions. There was a simple wooden picture frame that sat on top of it.

Inside was a simple black and white print, heavily faded from days of travel and lonely nights of wishing. He'd stood apart from the rest, not that it wasn't unusual. However, the way there was so much space between he and his teammates – and so little between them – made his heart pang with feelings laid dormant from the first time he'd ever felt himself go weak at the knees…

How many times had he wanted to return to being the person he was in that picture? To be able to change it and move closer to the person who had won it all for them?

To be closer to the one who had won a place in his heart?

And how many times had he smashed the picture frame so overcome with the power that was on him every minute of everyday? Like gravity was pulling down, he was being driven further and further into the depths of despair –

Because he knew.

That he had made the wrong decision again…

***

I must be making a mistake, Kai had thought when he looked into the clearing. Takao was there and Beybattling some kid who didn't deserve the time of day.

That's not him, I must be wrong…

He'd changed so much. Kai faltered as he continued to stare, watching as the longhaired boy was failing – losing to someone who hadn't done half the good things Takao had once done.

For the world.

For the BBA.

For his friends.

For Kai.

You can do this Takao, he said stepping out of the trees.

You can do anything when someone believed in you. It reminded Kai terribly of the time he had stood behind a tree, watching Takao's battle against the French Beyblading champion thinking, be careful

This time, when Takao had told him to come to his home and sleep in the same beautiful dojo that was in his dreams every night – haunting him with promises of what could have been – he hesitated.

Was this the right decision?

He had left his school to go find the other boy. He had left everything just as his heart had been telling him to. However, there was still an invisible barrier in between them.

The hesitation built into anxiety. It was like he had known an answer that was so clear in his heart he could see it but when faced with the inevitable problem… everything became cloudy and the storm would start to roll back in.

He didn't want to get lost again.

Then Takao looped his arm around his, pulling on him as if he were struggling in a situation too difficult to bear alone.

Sleeping in the dojo that night, Takao just a few feet away, Kai came to the conclusion that he could not make decisions on his own. Well, it wasn't so much that he could not make them, as it was he was horrible at it.

His judgement became eternally skewed with each new turn he had to take…

He had needed Takao to take him by the arm. It was the only way he'd have ever been able to make the right decision.

Kai did not like it. He did not understand it.

He did not know why after so long, the butterflies had flown back into him… or if they had just been sleeping, waiting for the moment when one touch would send him flying away on feelings of…

Staring out into the starry night he decided he would come out of his retirement.

Takao needed him…

***

They were still world champions.

It was all because of Takao.

He had to get away.

***

Kai didn't keep in touch with Takao for a long time even though they both still lived in Japan. Maybe it was because he told himself that Takao was busy.

He's teaching other kids to be just like him. A new generation of kids who'll blade just like Takao did…

With the whole of their hearts.

He didn't need Kai to step back into his life after being away for so long. Kai may have followed him before but that was all in the past. He had gotten stronger in that time they had all spent together as a team for the second time.

And then he had heard about another World Championship tournament…

The pull became too strong.

He wanted to prove that he was still the best. He wanted to take another World Championship as his own so that there would be another medallion and trophy on his wall…

He wanted…

He needed a team.

And he wanted Takao…

Kai kept telling himself the only reason he hung around with Takao was because he was the World Champion. Takao was the best blader around and had never let anyone down before. If he had Takao on a team, there would be no possible way he could lose.

He wanted to win.

However the reasons he kept telling himself were getting more unbelievable each day because he felt the force of the attraction that had captivated him so long ago…

He wanted to be with Takao.

This had to be the right decision.

***

Did he believe in fate?

When was it that he actually started caring? No one knew these things. Kai didn't think he'd ever pinpoint the moment when being with Takao felt right.

It just was.

It did not matter that he'd taken so long to figure it out. He was now part of Team BBA Revolution. It was made up of Takao, Kyouji, Daichi, and himself…

Not as if he cared about having the nerd and the little brat on his team.

All he wanted was for Takao…

***

Takao had lost against Rei.

Kai couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it because that meant all of his previous ideals about Takao – that he could win anything – were false.

If his beliefs were false then… then why weren't his feelings about Takao changing either? Didn't losing make everything different? Didn't he have the right to change his mind?

The idea that Takao could let him down like that, even though he didn't show it, tore Kai down to the core.

He couldn't take it if he couldn't win the World Championships. He needed to win this one. He wanted to be like Takao – to be able to run through the storm without looking back.

But the way Kai saw it; he needed to leave his team behind this time. Every man for himself.

Kai left Team BBA Revolution. He transferred to team NeoBorg and didn't see that it made Takao go out of control with… The butterflies within him had tried to carry him back, so that he wasn't leaving Takao again… like he always did…

Why couldn't he tell when he was making the wrong decision?

***

Team NeoBorg vs. Team BBA Revolution.

But Takao was nowhere to be found. Kai couldn't fight. Yuri took care of it. But wasn't this the same person who had created the barrier so long before…?

***

On and on Kai's emotions began bubbling up within him. For the longer he spent knowing he had made the choice to leave Takao the more he felt as if he'd made the wrong choice.

When something happened concerning Takao, his ears would perk up. When he saw the other teen battling in the arena, his eyes would be glued…

Yuri and Daichi tied.

Then he knew.

He would have to battle Takao in order to get what he had come to the tournament for.

Victory.

But he did not feel any thrill of going head to head against the rookie he once knew. He did not feel anything except for a deep pain within him.

Sometimes, people choose an awful path to follow, Kai thought as he looked across the stadium. Moments so long ago flashed through his mind. My whole life was training and discipline in the coldness. Takao, I… never lost my way.

Because of you.

Kinomiya! He had shouted, I don't belong here... I am pitiful...

Because he knew now why he had felt so lost all this time. He shouldn't have left the team. He hadn't wanted the World Championships if he had to fight Takao. He hadn't wanted it at all if it meant he had to be alone…

Kai couldn't believe he had run away at the first sign of change. He just wanted Takao.

He realized he'd made the wrong choice.

***

So overcome by the momentum at which his life was moving, Kai fought to make a decision. Should he try to hold onto what he had had before?

Maybe he could keep living in the cold. He'd done it all his life, why did he need to change the routine?

Only…

There was Takao in a vibrant spotlight standing across from him. He was so much the picture of what he had been those years ago. An innocent rookie on the verge of something big and breathtaking…

Something made Kai smile.

The feeling that could make someone go weak at the knees and make another so strong…

It was love.

He walked forward. All this time he'd been holding onto love… It was what had kept him warm when he had been trapped in the sea of white. It was what kept him on the right path.

Takao looked a bit confused.

Then Kai hugged him. His right arm slipped over one of Takao's shoulders and the other arm looped around to the longhaired boy's back to hold him close.

Kai didn't want to let go but knew he had to. He was standing under a spotlight in front of thousands of people – maybe even millions of fans were watching this – but he didn't care. He was finally holding close to him something that had been there for him always.

Forever.

Leaning back and away, he could tell.

That had been the right decision.

***

Why did he keep going back? Kai didn't know the answer to this as he joined BEGA. The new organization "for the children of the world…" It was run by Boris. Takao's older brother training them all… a constant reminder of what he'd lost…

This is just like the abbey only with more colourful people… and more colourful cages to keep them in. Kai had thought.

Didn't he belong here though? In the end, you had to return home. It was human nature – that even if you leave and go far away, there would always be an irresistible need to go back… to retrace your steps, good or bad, just to see your origins one last time…

The hunger he felt to understand himself and why he did the things he did.

What was running through his head?!

***

The precious seconds flew by. Minutes became hours, hours became days, days became years, and the years winded around on twisted roads of good and bad – Kai held onto that love.

***

Kai walked down the road towards the dojo he knew was laying just around the bend. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were low.

A year or two had passed by with Kai living in a small apartment near the harbour. There had been many times when he'd try to make the trip down to the dojo. Every time he tried to follow it though, his courage waned thin.

A storm hadn't brewed in ages. And life had only continued to shine more brightly. There was just one last little black cloud in the sky Kai had to get rid of…

The road hadn't changed much over the years, he realized. There might have been different routes he could have taken, but in the end they all ended up in the same place.

Takao…

On his journey by foot there, Kai could only reminisce on all the choices he'd made to get where he was today.

So many wrong ones…

As he neared the gate someone was just leaving. The figure spotted him and in surprise exclaimed,

"Kai!"

The burgundy-eyed boy's head lifted and he stared silently at the speaker. 'So this is where it ends…' He thought.

"Hey," Takao said cheerfully, "I knew you'd have to come around one of these days. How have you been?" He asked, ushering Kai inside the gate.

A few butterflies fluttered by them and then they went farther into the house. Soon, they were standing comfortably next to each other just on the porch in the back.

Kai smiled, and hesitantly pulled Takao into a hug.

Could he do this? The love that had been inside him seemed to swell at the touch and yet, for some reason Kai found he could answer this question.

Yes.

"I'm sorry…" He started slowly, "that it took me a long time to reach…"

Takao lifted his head from where it had been pushed against Kai's shoulder. He smiled softly and hugged back a little.

They broke apart.

"You know you could have come anytime. I'll always be here anyway."

Kai didn't know what to say. How could he measure what that promise was worth? How could he when at that moment it meant everything in the world to him… It was true then. This was what he had been looking for all along. He had wanted to be with Takao – the rookie who had changed his life – the man who he'd fallen in love with…

"Takao…" He began, but trailed off. He wondered why he had to tell the other boy. Hadn't he come far enough? Wasn't this enough?

No.

Because if he kept it inside any longer that would be losing. He'd come so far, faced so many things, it wasn't time for him to back down now.

He'd been becoming overwhelmed with the weak feeling for so long… He looked at Takao's smiling face and it sent shivers down his spine. Was this the right decision?

"Yes?" Takao asked.

I love you. Kai thought. It made his heart pang with pent-up feelings denied for too long.

The last time I was here I didn't know where my life was taking me. But you showed me the way… I love you. I don't know when I fell in love. I don't know how to fall out of it… all I've been doing is wandering for too many years looking for the cure…

Takao suddenly laughed. "Kai, you look a little lost."

Kai's eyes softened and he looked away into the distance. The sky was turning pink and the clouds were starting to blow away. He couldn't see the sun – the high walls of the dojo prevented that.

It didn't make the picture any less beautiful.

For how long had he been doing that? Looking out into the distance, searching for something only he could see? He did not know… all he knew was that every time he did gaze far away; he saw Takao's face…

"Are you all right?"

"I… I just don't know what to do…" Kai replied in a watery voice.

The former world champion was shocked, but quickly recovered. "What do you need help with? Just say the word, Kai…You know you can tell me anything."

Takao was slightly concerned. Kai had never been one to break down. He was the type of person who had a fortress around him. Takao, himself, had tried many times to break through. But now Kai had a deep far-away look in his eyes… as if he was desperately searching for something he could not see…

He knew Kai.

He knew.

"Kai…?" He ventured again.

Kai gradually turned to face him, the sinking sun's pink hues washing over his features in the background. It made him seem very soft – as if they were in a dream.

He had tears sparkling in his eyes.

"Takao, what did you see? …When you looked into the future so long ago?"

A shimmering stream of tears spilt their way down Kai's face and he looked downwards, unable to watch as Takao's face was blurred away.

"I saw us," Takao said steadily, forcing himself to not notice the tears, "we were always here together."

They both looked in different directions, not understanding the whole picture. Kai watched in silence as a pair of birds flew across the sky.

He turned sadly, closing his eyes in decision. That was it then. He could not do this. The words had been too sweet to be true. What else was there he could gain from Takao? What had he really been hoping for when he had set out for the dojo?

To say that he had fought to be with Kai through an endless tempest of choices…?

For Takao to have led life in the same turmoil he had…

He walked away, hot tears splashing on his chest. This could not of been where he was supposed to end up. It couldn't. Because it felt like he was alone it the storm again – struggling against winds that threatened to sweep him farther into hopelessness.

Rejection was one step away… why was he taking it…?

"Kai, wait!" Takao ran forward and caught Kai by the shoulder, turning him around and planting him solidly to the spot. The taller teen gasped as he felt the storm stop dead.

Takao took Kai's hand in his own, smiling gently in the way he'd always had.

Forever.

"Kai, I…" He hesitated, searching within the depths of Kai's warm burgundy eyes. "…When you've finally found what you've been searching for, I'll still be here. And if you ever feel like you're making the wrong choice, come to me, okay…?"

Kai choked back a sob of happiness.

How could I ever make the wrong choice when I have you? Life itself doesn't mean anything unless you're there. Loving you… it was the most right decision I've ever made…

He could not help but cry.

"Takao…"

THE END

[Author Notes/Disclaimer]

The Right Decision is a story about all the choices that Kai had to make in the show Beyblade, Beyblade 2002, and Beyblade G-Revolution. Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me. No profits are being made off this story.

Mostly just a rehashing of the official scenes in these shows, I know it's not very good or creative. Thanks to my beta Ranma! Some of the thoughts in TRD were from conversations we've had about Kai's mentality in these scenes. In the end, I could not make Kai confess to Takao, because like this story suggests, he just does not know when or how to make the right decision.

Glay