disclaimer: I still own nothing!
A/N: I'm not particularly satisfied with this chapter, but it'll do I suppose. I hope my muse gets a little more energetic in chapter 2. (Not to mention more frequently present. o.0) I hope chapter 2 won't take as long in the works as this one did, but.... *shrugs* what can you do? Try and enjoy. -,- It'll get better...or at least.... I'm pretty sure it will anyway.
Tyson yawned painfully as he kicked the refrigerator door closed and turned to add mil to his Econo-size box of Piccolo-O's. ("Turns your milk green!") He smiled and yawned again upon seeing his cheerful team mate Max Mizuhara sitting at the small table in the center of the tiny breakfast nook. The chipper blond smiled back and held out a bowl. Tyson shrugged and nodded, pouring a bit of milk into the out-thrusted container. Max promptly began happily munching away of his Sugar Smacks. ("For that extra-speckal 'get-up-and-go' that can prove harmful to the public's safety!") The smacking boy mouthed the words 'thank you' and several sugary, soggy morsels trailed down his chin. He wiped then away quickly and continued eating.
Tyson grinned again and poured his own share of essential dairy product into the cereal box's plastic lining. Upon tilting the jog back up, however, he found there to be only a few drops remaining. The boy simply shrugged and yawned again and turned to place it back in the fridge anyway.
"SWEET MOTHER OF EVERYTHING CORNY!"
Tyson found himself nose-to-nose with team captain Kai Hiwatari.
"You're not putting that back in there like that, are you?" inquired the two-toned haired boy calmly, glaring at his reddening team mate. "'Cause it kindly pisses Rei and me off when you do that. Rei because, well, you know how a neko-jin is about his milk and me because... well because getting pissed of at you is just kind of a hobby of mine, I guess." Tyson didn't seem to be listening to Kai's witty comments, however.
"Dammit, Kai! What are you, like... a friggen' ninja in your spare time or something!? You scared the bejeezus outta me!" Kai sniffed and appeared to be thinking this over.
"Good," he replied finally, gliding around the startled boy and pouring himself a cup of coffee. He took a seat at the table next to Max. "You could stand to lose a bit of your 'bejeezus.' A whole box of cereal? Honestly. Uh no thanks, Max." Kai made a face at the spoon full of sugar the Japanese-American boy next to him offered. Max shrugged and mumbled something ("Uhphmkay, soot chorselv!") before returning to his breakfast.
Next entered the raven-haired neko-jin, binding his wet locks as he sat on Max's other side. He eyed the mug in Kai's hand wearily. "Coffee stunts your growth , you know, Kai?" Kai sipped strongly at the cup's contents and raised to Rei a middle-fingered salute. Rei sighed.
"It's my 'growth. I'll do what I want with it," replied the stoic teen.
"I don't like coffee unless it has lots of sugar." Max seemed to have finished his cereal. He stood up and moved to the sink. "Otherwise it tastes like mud." Kai's mind found it rather amusing that Max knew what mud tasted like, but kept his thoughts to himself. He drank a bit more of his coffee.
"What's wrong with your hand, Max?"
"Hmm?" Max raised a brow at Rei's sudden observation.
"Your hand. Why are you holding it like that?" Max blushed slightly as Tyson and Kai also turned their attention to his hand, which he had been cradling reflexively to his chest since he had awoken that morning.
"I, uh.... I dunno," shrugged the daffodil blond curiously. "It kinda hurts, I mean. I must have slept on it wrong last night or something."
"Hmm," nodded Rei absently, furrowing his brow as if he accepted the answer but didn't find it likely. The neko-jin finished binding his hair and stood, crossing the nook to the refrigerator, which Max opened for him on his way back to the table. "Ari." mumbled Rei in appreciation and the boy grinned back happily.
"Hai," he replied and returned to his seat next to Kai, who still seemed focused on the pup's injured appendage. Max must have noticed this because he flexed his arm and waved the suddenly popular part of his anatomy. "T's all right, Kai-san?" Kai's gaze jumped to the pup's face which was bright with a closed-eyed smile.
"Hn," grunted the captain. Tyson, however, had more to say.
"Now wait a sec. Maxy, I have to comment here on your 'Kai-titling.' It gives him a big head, you see. Especially in prolonged exposure to that, that... tiny display of respect. And well.... I'm sure you get what I'm getting at..."
Kai and Max stared unblinkingly at the blue-haired boy. Tyson turned to Rei. "I don't think they heard me, Rei." Rei gave Tyson a look of disbelief.
"Tyson, I was standing right beside you and I'm not sure I heard you," he mused highly. Tyson sighed as Kai chuckled and Max giggled.
"What I meant was, if you call him 'sir' and address him all 'respectfully," he did the quotes as he spoke, "then he expects the rest of us to do that too!" Kai raised a brow.
"What's wrong with being respectful? I am your elder and I am your team captain." The phoenix set down his coffee mug heavily, (--thunclink!) folded his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes. Tyson sighed again wearily.
"Oh boy. You see, Maxy? Do you see!?"
"I know, Tyson. But I don't feel comfortable talking to Kai-san as a peer." Max looked down at the table's surface.
"It's all right, Maxy. Tyson shouldn't either." Kai smirked. Tyson blew a raspberry at the older boy and Max surpressed a giggle. Kai pointed sternly at the pony-tailed teen wagging his tongue in the air. "Don't forget who's paying for this lovely little hotel suite!" Tyson sneered and laughed sarcastically at this.
"A suite? Yeah!? You'd think we wouldn't have had to share beds in a suite! Why couldn't your money get us separate beds!? Or do you fancy sleeping in the same bed as Maxy and Rei? Afraid of the dark or summat, Kai!?"
Kai flushed furiously and opened his mouth to reply, but Kenny, the Bladebreakers' own personal computer wizard, ran into the room in a rising panic and the developing verbal confrontation was avoided and forgotten as Tyson's attention quickly shifted.
"What's up, Chief?"
"The carnival! I completely forgot about the BBA Carnival!" cried the small boy, wringing his fluffy brown hair.
"A carnival sponsored by the BBA? Cool, Chief, when?" Tyson conversed, finally taking the first bite of his cereal. ("Ech! It's mushy!")
"In 10 minutes!"
"Sweet! Can we go?"
"Can we? We were supposed to be there an hour ago!"
"Supposed to be?" Tyson spit milk and mush all over the counter. "Whataya mean?"
"Mr. Dickenson said the BBA was looking for some pro-beyblading teams to help with the carnival. Sort of like a 'Meet-A-Celebrity' thrill for the public and amateur bladers."
"And you volunteered us?"
"Uh.... yeah."
"And when did you plan on telling us about this?" inquired Kai. Kenny just stared blankly at the boy speaking as though he were doing so in some uncomprehendable lauguage.
"Well, I thought that my reason for not telling you would have been obvious."
"Howsat?"
"You wouldn't have agreed to it even if we were getting paid."
"We aren't getting paid?!" Tyson spat out more mush.
"Well, of course not. That's why it's called 'volunteering." The room was suddenly quiet, with the exception of Tyson's choking sounds. "But anyway! We don't have time to stand around and discuss it any further! We were supposed to be there an hour ago!" Kenny clapped his hands three times rapidly. "C'mon! Let's go!"
"Why didn't you get us up earlier, then! Not I don't have time to finish my breakfast!" whined Tyson.
"I would have! But someone turned off my alarm!" Kenny glared.
"Oh. My bad." Tyson blushed. "I couldn't sleep with all that racket."
"That's the point, you dolt!" Kenny groaned. "Just... just get ready. I've already called Mr. Dickenson to tell him we're on our way." With that, the brunette turned on his heels and strode out.
"Kenny seems.... irate." Max reasoned.
"Yeah, well give him some time to wake up. He'll warm up to us." The remaining boys performed a group sigh and Kai, Max, and Tyson (putting down his box of soggy substance) followed their stategist's lead.
Rei watched them go and reached down to fasten a tie on his clothes that had escaped him earlier after his shower. "Speaking of noticing things and warming up to others..." Rei wondered briefly if he was the only one who had taken note of Kai referring to Max as 'Maxy,' an affectionate nickname for the spunky blond that Tyson had set in motion and all the other Bladebreakers (with an exception of Kai) had adopted. Rei smiled to himself, finding it amusing and rather uplifting that Kai might be finally allowing himself to become a part of the team.
The neko-jin looked down in mild irritation at the milk jug he had been holding in his other hand for quite some time now before shrugging, drinking the last bit, discarding the container, and walking after the rest of his team to get ready for the carnival.