A Somewhat Normal Life
A/N: Yah. Any way…
DISCLAIMER: I own only Reuven, Marek, all other Stepanskis and Marishka.
Chapter 2: Looking For Kai Hiwatari
Marek sat squirming in his school uniform next to Reuven and their older sister, Aneta, who was 25. On Aneta's other side was her husband, Jasiek Ziemianska, and her infant daughter, Krysia. Their parents, Duszek and Lelia, were on Reuven's other side. Marek had never really enjoyed church. Aneta and Reuven, on the other hand, were their parents' perfect children.
"Marek, stop squirming." Lelia said sharply. Obediently, Marek sat still, but now his eyes were darting all over the place. Finally, he glanced at a young woman, sitting in the very back of the sanctuary. "Hey, she's a new one, ain't she?"
"Isn't she." Lelia corrected, then looked over. "But yes, she is a new face. She looks only a few years older than you, Aneta. Have you met her before?"
"No," Aneta responded, looking at the woman with interest. "I'll go talk to her during intermission."
Just then, the praise and worship team started playing, and all conversations were ceased.
When intermission rolled around, Aneta passed off Krysia to Jasiek and hauled Reuven and Marek with her over to where the newcomer was sitting, talking with the teenage boy who was accompanying her. "Excuse me, hi there." Aneta smiled as the woman looked up, surprised. "Sorry, I couldn't help but notice you two seem to be new here. I'm Aneta Ziemianska, and these are my brothers Reuven and Marek Stepanski." Reuven and Marek both ducked a head in greeting.
"I'm Marishka Raskin," the woman responded. "And this is my friend's brother, Rei Kon. He's in town for a few weeks with his teammates," she added.
"Reuven, Marek, why don't you two go introduce Rei to a few others?" Aneta asked pointedly.
"But if he's only in town for a few—"
"Marek!"
"Going!" The three boys skittered off, abashed. Aneta smiled again and seated herself on the chair vacated by Rei. Just as she was about to speak again, Jasiek popped, looking sheepish as Krysia shrieked her head off.
"Sorry, Aneta, she wants Mama." He said as Aneta shook her head and took the protesting infant. "Hi, I'm Jasiek." He added, noticing Marishka.
"He's my husband," Aneta clarified. "Jasiek, this is Marishka."
"Marishka?" Jasiek asked. "Sounds Russian[1]."
"That would be because I am Russian." Marishka admitted. "I lived in Russia until I was about 18. Then I moved to Hong Kong, and I moved to Japan a year ago."
"Well, no one can't say you don't travel." Aneta commented. "Oh, Krysia, stop that," she scolded gently as Krysia tugged on a long lock of Marishka's navy blue hair. Gently, she untangled the infant's fingers from the hair.
"Is she your daughter?" Marishka asked, a slight wistful tone in her voice.
"Yes. She's almost six months now." Aneta said.
Marishka sighed. "I always wanted a daughter. A little girl to dress up like the dolls I used to play with when I was a kid. I never got one."
"You don't have any kids of your own?" Aneta asked. Marishka smiled slightly, a sad sort of smile.
"I have a son out there… somewhere."
Aneta was about to ask more, but the intermission ended and she had to leave.
After the service had ended, Marek, Reuven and Rei were talking more as Aneta tried to convince Marishka to come to lunch with them.
"So you're a Beyblader?" Reuven asked. "Cool. Why are you in Kagoshima? There's no tournament going on."
"Yeah, and even if there was, it wouldn't be in Kagoshima." Marek added.
"We're, uh, trying to find our team captain," Rei said, with an ironic smile. "He ran off about half a year ago and we want him back. All the research we've done says he's hiding somewhere in Kagoshima or surrounding area."
"Cool." Marek said. "Maybe we can help."
"Yeah, we know every teenager in the city." Reuven chimed in. "He is a teenager, right?"
"Yeah." Rei assured him. "He's 15."
"What a coincidence. So are we." Reuven commented.
"That's not a coincidence, Reuven!" Marek said, whacking Reuven on the head.
"I meant it narrows it down!" Reuven snapped. "Well, then, he'll be in school. Under a different name, probably. There's only two schools in the city, so if he's not in Takanemi, then he's in the Academy."
"Good!" Rei said, brightening. "We actually got pictures to show." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a business card. On the card, it had some information but also two pictures, one of a single guy and one of the team.
Kai Daivid Lyaksandr Hiwatari
Member of team BLADEBREAKERS
Bitbeast registered as #7 Dranzer
Reuven's eyes widened. "The Bladebreakers?"
Rei rolled his eyes. "Yes. Now back to the topic at hand. We're looking for this guy."
Marek's mouth opened and closed soundlessly a few times; Reuven finally spoke for the both of them, "I know him. We know him."
"I haven't even told you his name," Rei said.
"I told you, he's using an alias." Reuven repeated. "Any way. Yeah. This guy goes to the Academy. Looks a little different, but nothing too drastic. Goes by Kai Tameru."
"How's he different?" Rei asked excitedly.
"See these stripes on his face?" Marek pointed out.
"Yeah." Rei answered.
"They're gone." Reuven cut in.
"Anything else?" Rei asked hopefully.
"Umm… I don't know if he had this while you knew him, and I don't know what happened, but something is really wrong with his right leg." Marek added.
Rei looked intrigued. "Do you have an address?"
"144-104 Boysen Ave." Reuven answered.
Marek elbowed him. "I think he means an address for Kai, you idiot."
"Oh." Reuven reddened. "Easy to remember. 1313 Devlin Blvd."
"1313 Devlin Blvd." Rei repeated triumphantly to Tyson, Max and Kenny later that afternoon. "Goes by Kai Tameru now."
"And you got this from who?" Tyson asked again.
"A couple of guys who go to school with him." Rei repeated patiently. "I guess Mr. Dickinson had a good idea there when he forced me to go with Marishka to church. Never would've found out otherwise."
"School? Kai?" Max muttered. "Sorry, I'm not buying this. It's entirely too tame for Kai."
"Well, Max, Kai is still 15. He has to go to school for at least another year." Kenny pointed out.
"Voltaire's rich enough, he can afford a private tutor." Max contradicted.
"But that'll draw attention." Rei said. "This is a small town. Nobody home-schools their kids. Trust me. I'm a small-town boy who's home-schooled. Everybody knows it, everybody bugs me about it. Home-schooling your kid in a small town is not the best way to stay low-profile."
"Oh." Max mumbled, flushing. "So how are we getting to 1313 Devlin Blvd., remaining low-profile?"
"I… don't know." Rei admitted.
"What if we… no, that won't work. But maybe we could… no. What we do is… never mind." Tyson muttered to himself. "I've got it!"
"What?" Kenny asked.
"Did you hear on the news yesterday?" Tyson asked. "Boris escaped."
"Don't remind me." Rei shuddered.
"If Voltaire really does have a safe house here, wouldn't Boris automatically head for here?" Tyson continued.
"I don't want to know." Kenny groaned.
"So if we got Dizzi to somehow project a hologram of Boris, prisonized, of course; over Rei in a car, and get the voice of Boris to get us entrance…"
"That actually makes sense." Rei commented. "Scary. But too much work for Dizzi. Besides, I can't drive." He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "Marishka!"
"No. Absolutely not. Besides, they won't admit me entrance any way."
"But Marishka—" Rei pleaded.
"No, Rei. Final answer."
"But Marishka—"
"Don't make me hang you out the window by your hair, Rei. And I will do it."
Rei shut up.
"But Marishka—" Max, Tyson and Kenny all chimed in.
"All you have to do is convince him you worked with Biovolt," Max begged.
"Oh, man, are you all going to keep pleading until I say yes?"
"Yep." Rei answered, then yelped and dashed out of the way as she made a grab for his hair.
"Marishka, you must admit that these boys seemed to have thought this out carefully," Mr. Dickinson said logically.
"Except for the slight fact that he will not allow me entrance." Marishka insisted.
Tyson grinned slightly. "Oh! Idea hitting."
"Do I even want to know?" Rei moaned, looking at his expression.
"It's called 'getting pulled out of class'." he said.
"I'm liking it, I'm liking it." Marishka said. "And it doesn't require entrance onto the grounds of the mansion. I'm liking it."
"So here's what we do," Tyson said confidentially as the group leaned in.
[1] At least, I think it's Russian. I got out of a list of variations for a girl's name I can't remember. It was, like, Mary or Martha or something like that.