SS-Ok, this is it. People who've read my other stories would know that I usually put the epilogue with the last chapter so here it is.
Tym-Last chapter already, well that was pretty quick.
SS-I know.
Tym- Oh, before you start the ending of your chapter story thingy…let's thank all the reader/reviewer people!
SS-Oh yea! I…I knew that ^.^;;
~Lot's of thanks to…Reicu, Korie, maliks-dragon, Maytel, Admiral2, acedragon, Thorn, Eresphen's Light, and Moi. Special thanks to Hiroko and Just-some-girl1 (First people to review ^_~), and a big thank you thank you to my fellow anime fanatic Madison! Thanks for getting me hooked on BeyBlade M-sen, and with that…let's begin!
~*~*~*~
The Spirit Within Me
Chapter Eight/Epilogue – Things to earn
DISCLAIMER: Go to the last chapter…it'll tell you to go to the one before that…you'll find it there.
Dedicated to M-sen, who made me get off my butt and helped me get back into writing.
~*~*~*~
Kai slowly drifted to sleep, holding his kitten protectively in his arms. Though, technically he wasn't his kitten, Kai had yet to tell Rei how he felt about him. No doubt he was waiting until they reached Tyson's house. However, part of the bluenette was afraid to admit his feelings, after all, rejection wasn't something Kai or anyone else wanted to experience. He just had to wait and see what card fate was going to deal him, courage or cowardice, companionship or loneliness, love…or despair.
When they got to Tyson's house everyone filed out, sorta. Kenny practically jumped out, overjoyed that the whole experience was over. Ray walked out slowly, rubbing her eyes after waking again. She yawned and stretched, waiting for the others to come out. Tally quietly made her way to the other bitbeast, not showing any signs of fatigue. Max was next, dragging a half asleep Tyson behind him. He finally woke when the blue hair boy tripped over the last step and fell on the blond. Mr. D. helped them up and into the house as Kai came out. He was carrying Rei piggyback style, obviously not wanting to wake the neko-jin. Ray walked with him as they made their way inside.
It was only 6:30pm, but since they were all exhausted everyone took a nap until dinner. Tyson and Max fell asleep in the living room and Kenny slumped into a chair with Dizzy on his lap and dozed off. Meanwhile, Kai carried Rei into one of the guest rooms…away from Tyson's snoring. Ray set out some blankets as the bluenette laid him down, covering the boy in its soft layers. "After all that happened today I wouldn't be surprised if he slept for days." Kai nodded and looked up at her.
"That's ok, he deserves-whoa…"
"What?" Kai leaned in close to her. "Kai?"
"Your…hair."
"What?! What about my hair?!" She reached behind her, grabbed a tuft of her long tresses, glanced at it and gasped. "I'm…I'm…I'm a…"
"You're as green as a cucumber." Kai finished.
"B-But I had hair as black as onyx on the ride home."
"I guess when you took the preserver you started reverting to the way you were supposed to be." She combed through her hair.
"Yea…anything else different?" Kai blinked.
"You can figure that out for yourself." She starred at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He means nothing he wants to see." They both turned to see Tally standing on the threshold.
"Tally. I forgot you were still here." The red head smirked.
"Obviously. I'm glad to see that the boy is recovering; he should be fine." Ray took a step forward, intentionally putting herself between the wolf and Rei.
"Is there something you needed?"
"As a matter of fact, I wanted to speak with Kai. In private please."
"Since we're all…good friends, I don't see why-"
"No, it's ok." The now green haired girl snapped her head to him.
"What?" The bluenette walked over to Tally.
"Just look after Rei for me." With that he walked outside to the girl, closing the door behind him.
"You trust me?"
"Seeing as you're a copy of my old friend, yes."
"Is that the same person that you want me to meet?"
"Hn." He got out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. Then he handed it to Tally, who took it willingly. "He's going to get a kick out of this. Send him my regards." It was then that she really looked at the information on the card.
"Is this correct?" He only starred at her. "Of course. I'll be sure to tell him you said hello. Hm…"
"What?"
"What's the second number for?"
"That's Mr. Dickinson's number. Call him if you need anything."
"I will, and thank you." She heard a faint 'hn' and a small smile came to her lips. She turned to leave. "And I hope you find your way with that boy in there." Kai's eyes widened. "And yes, it's that obvious." She was gone in seconds, leaving a slightly stunned bluenette behind.
"If she's right about anything it's that." Kai headed back inside.
"Really."
"Yes really. It's painfully noticeable and I wish you'd just tell him already. It would make everything a lot better." He walked past her and sat down beside Rei. "Trust me on this one, I know."
"Hn." She crossed her arms and 'hmphed'.
"Fine!" She turned to leave. "But if…if you do," She smiled weakly. "Promise you'll tell me about it afterwards, kay?" She walked away, barely shutting the door. Kai gazed at the neko-jin sleeping peacefully.
'I want to…but what will he say?'
~*~
It had been a whole day since the day at the abbey and Rei was still asleep. Everyone had stayed the night because they wanted to see if Rei would be all right, and because Mr. Dickinson said he was visiting in the morning. So for convenience, they had a sleep over. During the night Kai never left his side, he had made his bed right next to him just in case he woke. He tried to stay up, but the events of the day had exhausted most of his strength.
Ray had recently come in to check up on her double and the bluenette and was sitting next to him now. She had changed a little more, her green hair was about shoulder length now, and her once golden eyes had slowly morphed to a gentle blue. The claws had vanished, so had most of Rei's normal actions and quirks. She was her own person, and she was pretty happy for that.
She looked at Rei and sighed, he had barely moved since she came in half an hour ago and she didn't know if this was part of the recovery process. "Come on Rei…wake up wake up." She touched his arm and felt a jolt pass through her. "Y-ouch!" Pulling away immediately she held her hand gently. "What in the world…oh." She gasped as Rei began to move. "Rei?" She leaned in. "You ok?" He mumbled some incoherent words so she leaned in closer. "Rei?" She poked his cheek. "Hello?"
"Ugh…"
"Rei?" Her nose was mere inches from his face; she was starring at him intently. "Re-OW!" At that moment he sat up, hitting her square on the face and knocking her on her butt. She rubbed her forehead as Rei held his.
"Oh…ah…damn it…"
"Rei?" He sat up slowly this time and looked over.
"Ray?" He blinked. "You look…different." Knowing that he meant her hair and face she nodded.
"Yea, um…I'll explain later." She crawled over to him. "So, how do you feel?"
"Like I was hit by a truck…but since you do too I can't really count that. I'm still a little tired and sort of disoriented though…"
"That's because you just woke up. And who'd a thought all it would take was a little contact with your copy huh?" He smiled and stretched a bit, that's when he noticed Kai.
"Kai."
"He's been here all night. He never left your side since we got to Tyson's house."
"It's been a whole day?"
"Yup. You sure know how to snooze."
"He was here…all night? Why?"
"He wanted to be here in case you woke up so that-" She stopped there when she realized that she could be spoiling the surprise. If Kai was going to tell him she didn't want to give it away.
"So that what?"
"Uh…nothing! Nothing, nothing at all!" She laughed nervously, trying to cover up her mistake. Then Kai started to shift, all the chatter no doubt waking the light sleeper. "Oh, Kai is waking up. Don't tell him that we've been talking ok? I want him to think that you just woke up."
"Why?"
"Because he wants to tell you something important." Kai sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. When he saw Rei he jumped a little.
"Rei, you're awake. How do you feel?" He smiled and pretended to yawn.
"I'm still a little tired, but other than that I feel just fine." He turned to me.
"Of course you're still tired, you just woke up silly." She scratched her cheek anxiously. "Well, I'm kind of hungry. I think I'll go get something to eat. You guys want anything?" She didn't wait for a response, but quickly got up and made for the door. "No, nothing? Ok, I'll see you later then!" She raced out, sliding the door shut behind her. Rei turned to Kai.
"What's with her?" He just shrugged.
"Honestly I don't know." He moved closer to him. "Are you sure you feel ok?" Rei nodded and smiled.
"Yes. I should really be asking you that though. I mean I wasn't the only person there when the building started collapsing."
"No you weren't, but you were the only one who almost…" He didn't want to finish his sentence, so he went a different way. "You know, you worry about others too much."
"I can't help it. It's just natural for me to worry about people I care about."
"I know, but you worry about everyone else so much that you don't think about yourself." Rei turned his head away from Kai.
"Well, the people I care about will look after me."
"Most of them aren't here now…I'm the only one here."
"Yea…but you're my friend too. And you look after me a lot."
"Of course I do," He paused for a second, making sure he knew what he was doing. "You're very special to me Rei." The neko-jin faced him again.
"Really? How special?"
"Very special."
"How special?" Kai caught his smirk and began stroking his long raven hair which had fallen out of its binding some time ago.
"Very special."
"How special?" Kai brought his other hand up to cup his cheek, enjoying the feeling of his soft skin on his fingers. He leaned in and kissed his forehead lightly.
"Very special." Rei smiled and looked into his ruby eyes.
"How special?" A smirk found its way to Kai's lips as he thought about his answer.
"Hm…" Rei waited patiently, leaning into his captain's touch. When Kai finally had a good response, he moved closer, dropped his hand from the kitten's angelic face to his waist and placed his lips on Rei's. Applying a little pressure, he gained a small moan from him and Kai grinned. Not wanting to push him too far though, he just enjoyed the feel of the kitten's soft lips against his own and continued to rake his hand through his long, silky hair. Although Kai didn't want to, he pulled away after a few seconds to finish his sentence, and to catch his breath. "That special." He gazed into the neko-jin's gorgeous, golden eyes, but saw that they were staring at the floor.
'Oh no…don't tell me he doesn't feel the same…well, no matter what he says I have to take this maturely.' He ran his hand up Rei's side. "Rei, what's wrong?" He met the gaze of the now worried bluenette and whispered,
"How special?" Kai sighed in relief and brought his forehead down onto his, a smile on his lips.
"Very special. You're the most important thing to me, Rei. I don't think I could have gone another day without telling you that. Without showing you." Rei pulled away from him and turned around.
"Well you could have fooled me. What took you so long?" Kai glared at him…but it disappeared quickly. He never could stay mad at him. So he just wrapped his arms around him from behind and nuzzled his neck.
"I'm sorry. I was just…just…"
"Afraid? Of me? You grew up in a place like that abbey and you're afraid of me?" Kai nodded and breathed in the scent of his hair.
"I didn't know what you were going to say. And I didn't want you to hate me or something."
"I would never hate you Kai. Maybe I would be angry with you, despise you, or want to rip your throat out…but never hate you." He laughed a little, relaxing his body and leaning into him.
"How reassuring." Rei tilted his head up to the side, hoping to see his face.
"But those were maybes…and right now, I think I love you." Kai moved his head so that he met Rei's gaze.
"Good, because I love you too my little kitten." Their lips met once more, this time Kai ran his tongue across the boy's lower lip…wanting to experience more than just the wonderful feel of his neko-jin's lips. 'Yea, very mature…' Rei knew what he wanted, but denied him…for now. He pulled away to see confusion written on his face. Rei just grinned.
"Mm…not yet."
"Why not?" He asked playfully, tickling his neko-jin slightly. The raven-haired blader quickly escaped his embrace, got up and whispered in his ear,
"Because some things you need to earn." With that he grabbed his bandana and ran out to the others.
"I need to earn it huh?" He picked himself up and ran after him. Already thinking of a few ways he could do just that.
~*~
The others were in Tyson's room, playing games and eating more food. Max and the bluenette were trying to toss mini marshmallows into each other's mouth…missing terribly. Ray was trying to give the two tips when they tried again, and Kenny typing something and talking with Dizzy. After Tyson tossed another marshmallow, which landed in Max's messy, blonde hair, he heard something crash outside and looked up.
"What was that?" The others looked to see that Kai had launched Dranzer and it hit the gate. "What does he think he's doing?"
"Get back here Rei!" Everyone turned in time to see Rei running away from the bluenette and heading towards them. Kai set Dranzer again. "Let it rip!" The blue blade charged in their direction.
"Guys get down!" Rei exclaimed as he dove onto the bed that lay unmade. Dranzer flew over his head and straight out the window, landing in the bushes on the other side. Max sat up.
"What was all that about?" Ray looked up at them and grinned.
"Oh…nothing. Just having a little discussion with-"
"With me!" Kai stormed in and straddled Rei, who was struggling under him.
"Get off, get off, get off!" The bluenette leaned in closer, his lips briefly touching the younger boy's earlobe.
"Not until you give me what I've earned." Rei shivered at the contact but shook his head and continued struggling, the other kids looked to each other in confusion.
"You know what…I don't even want to know."
"I agree with Tyson."
"I'll second that." As they crept out, Ray stopped at the threshold.
"Be gentle. You never know when a tournament will come up, so don't be too hard on him Rei." The two looked over to her. "What? It'll be too hard to break in a new captain." They each grabbed a handful of mini marshmallows and threw them at her, but ended up hitting the door as she closed it quickly.
~*~ Ray's Journal ~*~
Mr. Dickinson gave me this because he wanted me to write any changes I go through or anything that seems different. I hope he doesn't mind if I use the back pages as an actual diary though. I probably won't write in it too often, but I wanted to put this in so that I remember how it all happened.
I know I'd want to read the good stuff first, so I'll start with that. Kai finally told Rei how he felt about him. ^_^ I'm so happy for my brother! Oh, I call Rei that sometimes just because it feels like I'm related to him. I think some of his energy is still in me. I still have fangs! But anyway, yea!
They're always together…it's so sweet. We're all at the park right now and Kai's hugging him under the tree. I can't really tell because the view from here sucks (And now I wished I had sat closer), but I think Kai's nuzzling Rei's neck, still holding his waist. He's really protective him, but after almost losing him I suppose he has a right to be. Rei doesn't mind though, he loves the attention as much as he loves him. Oh…and I bet he loved that lip smack attack too.
And Tyson and Max aren't giggling about it either. Both of them are skipping stones down at the lake. I think they like each other. Even Dizzi thinks so. I've been talking to her lately; it's interesting to talk to another bitbeast. Well, I know I'm not a bitbeast anymore, but I can't shake the feeling that I could convert to a jaguar if I was angry enough.
Anyway, I decided to stay here for a while. Mr. Dickinson and some scientists at the BBA research facility want to study me. The idea doesn't sound too good to me, but it shouldn't be as bad as the stuff they were doing to me at the abbey. Plus I think I owe it to them for locking away those terrible people.
I live with Rei and his relatives, though it seems like I live with Kai too since he's always over. But that's ok; I like him. Every couple days or so, the whole group gets together to 'train', though…we don't do much of it. I only remember battling Tyson once (Yes, I got my own beyblade ^.^), and even that battle was stopped when Max came with lunch. I think it's just an excuse to get together. No one complains about it, I certainly don't. Sometimes Kai does though. He always says, "What if a tournament comes up and we're not ready?" Then we would all look to Rei and he would take Kai off to another room for a minute for so. And when they came back he says, "Fine, we can rest today, but next time I'm training you all into the ground." Something tells me that as long as Rei's around…we won't have to train ever again.
I have to wrap this entry up; it looks like Tyson's hungry. We'll probably go back to his house and 'train' a little. Hm…I remember thinking that everything's going to be ok after I met Rei, and I was right. Good friends, home, life. Just throw in an attractive panther bitbeast-turned-human and I'd call this paradise.
~The Spirit Within Me~
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SS-There…*slumps into the chair* all done.
Tym-Now onto…uh…'Sent to Save Me'?
SS-If I can think of what to write. I think I'll either do a K/R one-shot or a chapter fic for M-sen's birthday.
Tym-Ok…just don't put it off for too long. Please review one last time! It'll make us really happy! And look out for her one-shots…they're usually better then her chapter fics.
SS- #. …argh…
&Previews&
- On the plane ride back home from Russia, Kai finds Rei's journal…opened just a bit. What do you think will happen next?
- (AU) Doing what he's good at, Kai's on a mission to find and capture a mysterious creature in the Umber Woods for a client. However, once he finds it Kai discovers that he's more than a prize to be caught and is reluctant to give him up.
Tell me what sounds good people! Ja ne!