That you're my little secret
And that's how we should keep it
We should never let 'em know
Never let it show
But you know like I know
We should never let it go

"My Little Secret" by Xscape

i am the unicorn

i am timeless.  i do not choose champions lightly

if my knight

brave as she is in all aspects but this one

will not act

i shall

----------

"Oliver."  The familiar voice seems to come from some distance away.  "Hey, Oliver."

I realize slowly that someone is tapping me on my arm, and has been for the fast few minutes.  I break off my reverie, looking into bright blue eyes.  "Oui?"

"Are you all right, man?  You came in all spacey and…yeah…"  Enrique trails off, looking uncertain, and I cover the turmoil of inside worry with a bright, false grin.

Silently I curse myself for the vanity that prompted me to keep my hair so long, rather than reverting to a shorter style that would have assured greater security.  The situation I am in at the moment is not a common one – if not for Unicolyon I would not have removed the pins that added to my illusion, increasing the danger of discovery.  In normal cases, I had arranged my hair so well that even if my beret fell off, the pins – all but invisible – would keep it in its usual place.  However, when I had heard Gustav begin calling for me, I hadn't had enough time to do more than…well…basically, stuff it under my hat. 

Just act normal, I tell myself.  Act perfectly normal and keep everyone's attention off me and just retire to bed as soon as possible.  Thank goodness Robert's castle is so large.  No worries about sharing rooms…not that I haven't managed before, but STILL!

                                                                                                           

"You're doing it again."

Damn you and your perceptiveness!  "Sorry, Enrique.  I'm just tired from the flight in, I guess…"

Thankfully, my Italian friend is polite enough to leave it at that.  It's a truth anyway; Robert must have seen me covering up my yawns, since he rises to his feet.  After complimenting my cooking, he drops a few not-too-subtle hints that we should go to bed.  (Or, if I know my team members, Johnny's case will involve late-night chess losses.  I swear if Robert bet money on their matches, he'd have absorbed half of the MacGregor clan's fortune by now.)  Grateful, I retreat down the hallway to a familiar guest room, dropping on the bed with a sigh.

"Dieu…"

And like I said, it wasn't a lie.  I'm exhausted.  Need…to…slee…p.

the time is

"Zzzzz…"

soon?

----------

In a not-so distant dimension, we hear a distinctively female voice, chiming like a crystal bell and sounding positively peeved.

"Aww, crap!  She wasn't supposed to fall asleep YET! [1]"

----------

"Robert…I think you should see this," Johnny called, waving a videotape.

"Hm?" Dark crimson eyes glanced across the room.  "I thought we'd arranged a chess game for tonight…?"

Johnny's lips tilted in the faintest of smirks.  "And we can guess how that would come out.  I'm serious, Robert, you need to watch this."

"All right, all right…but I still think you're afraid to lose for the…um…"

"One thousand, six hundred ninety-third time…or I could win my seventh, you know. [2]"

Robert closed his eyes in shocked annoyance.  "Just play the bloody thing before a storm brews up and shorts the cables again."

On the wide screen, blue screens and scrolling lines of text cleared to reveal a plain stage – the sort normally used for talk shows, except that everything was in tasteful shades of blue or gray, and there was no glitter or glamour added to the scene, not even any people beyond who Robert presumed was the host, a dark-suited young man with hair an unusual blue-green colour.

Overall, a rather boring display.  Robert actually found himself irrelevantly thinking, This guy's hair matches the chairs.  Almost.

"Hello all," murmured the young man pleasantly.  "Welcome to the debut of Behind the Battles, the show where the adoring fans – " Robert was amazed at how he could make it sound so much like an insult "-can get the down-and-dirty on their favorite Beybladers."

Robert, not usually one to formulate opinions on first impressions, immediately made an exception and decided that he did not like this man.

"Allow me to introduce myself," continued the host, inclining his head with a slightly mocking smile. "My name is Gus Gretta, formerly head columnist for the Beyblading Times – some of you may have heard of me before."

Off to the side, Robert heard Johnny snort.  "Yeah – he wrote that stupid article the Bladebreakers were so mad about, last time they visited."

Robert lifted an eyebrow.  "You mean…that nonsense about Mariah Chen being a two-timer?  About Max 'stealing Rei's girl' or some such uncouth trash?"

"Yeah.  This new show – it's worse, though."

Robert made a noncommittal noise which turned into an exclamation of surprise.  The boring scene had been replaced with what was obviously a video, the image wavering back and forth – apparently, someone had had trouble with the camera.  It showed the dim interior of a candlelit restaurant, where two very familiar figures talked softly over plates of what appeared to be pasta.

"Kai and…Emily?  What on Earth…"

The two Majestics watched as the video-Kai looked in the camera's direction, eyes narrowed in a familiar, extremely threatening pose.  The next few minutes were a turmoil of the image waving around too quickly to get any sort of clear picture, accompanied by a very Kai-like snarl of rage and the sound of a fist hitting flesh.  Emily's voice was clear in the background.  "Kai, enough – oh, let's get away from here, dammit!"  and an incoherent noise that was probably a threat, before the image flickered and Gus Gretta's smiling image appeared back on the screen.

"As you ca-"

Johnny abruptly switched off the VCR, eyebrows knitted in anger. 

"Johnny, that was rude."

"I don't think you want to hear the rest – it's some crap about how Kai is 'dangerous and unstable and should be put away' – that sort of bullshit."

Robert waved it away, rising to his feet and taking the tape.  "So he follows well-known Beybladers around the area.  Does it mention anything about where he's supposed to be now…?"

Johnny shook his head.  "Nope.  But the White Tigers have seen him snooping, and so have the All-Starz.  Nothing too bad's happened yet, but he's annoying, and so far, we're the only major team he hasn't targeted...besides the Demolition Boys, but that's different."

"Ah."  Robert frowned in consternation – what timing, when his friends were actually on a rare social visit to his home!  "I'll have people look out for him…although it's not as if our team has any dirty secrets or illicit relationships to hide…I hope."  His mouth twitched in a rare smile of humor.

"Yeah," Johnny smirked.  "You got that right – and no idiot with a camera can do anything to hurt our reputations!"

"Unless they happen to hear of your abysmal chess record."

"Shut up, Robert…say, shouldn't Enrique and Oliver see this?"

"Not tonight, Johnny.  Be considerate – they just got in, they must be dead asleep at this hour.  Best to save it for  tomorrow."

Johnny pouted.  "You're no fun, Rob.  So what about that chess match?"

----------

Ugh.

I'm so thirsty.

Robert won't mind my little midnight excursion to the kitchen, will he?  I'm not Tyson after all, because first, I know where the traps are (therefore I will not wake the castle up with my yells of fright,) and second, I will not decimate the Jurgen Castle food supply.  (Urgh.  I like cooking for people, but for Tyson Kinomiya, I have my limits.)

Besides, all I want is a glass of water.  And who would be in the kitchen at this hour?  Gustav?  I doubt it – he is hardly the type to be an insomniac.

Just in case, I jam my beret down hard over my hair.  No sense taking stupid risks – after all, I don't put it past any of the other Majestics to take a midnight snack.  Not even our captain.

Rubbing sleep from my eyes and yawning, I stride quickly through the hallways.  Jurgen Castle is one of the bloody creepiest places I've ever been in, especially at night.  All those family portraits on the walls seem to glare at me accusingly.

They're just paintings, but paintings of people that look an awful lot like Robert.  They make me feel guilty…it's not as though I like hiding this part of my identity from my teammates, my friends.  But if they find out…

Johnny will explode.  With Salamulyon, that's almost a literal interpretation.  And Robert - ever seen him mad?  He's scary.  All cold, harsh and forbidding, kind of like a bird of prey.  It's easy to see why the Jurgen family has Griffolyon as their protector and avatar.

But what about Enrique?

Knowing him, he'd treat it as a big joke.  Well…actually, I don't know.

Great.  Of all the Majestics, he's my closest friend, and I still haven't figured out how he would take my telling him this.

Just great.

----------

Olivia stopped short in the kitchen doorway, surprised.  Speak of the devil…

"Enrique?  What are you doing here?"

"Getting a midnight snack."  He yawned, just in time to miss an exasperated rolling of her eyes, and bit into a half-eaten mess of a sandwich.  "You?"

"Nah, just needed a drink..."  She proceeded to rummage through the fridge, with a lot of grumbling.  "All this and I can't find where he keeps the bloody water…"

"Need a hand?"  Enrique again, right behind her and too close for comfort.  She fidgeted nervously, shaking her head, and he grinned sleepily at her before returning to his seat.  Finally finding the object of her search, she sat down opposite her Italian friend, gulping the cool liquid with a sigh of relief.

"Hey…I've just been thinking.  I've never seen you without that hat on…"

Olivia's eyes widened.  Merde

"C'mon, Olli.  Just take it off for once, yeesh!  You'd think you were covering up baldness or something."  He laughed softly at his own joke, and before Olivia could move, had reached over and snatched the beret from her head.

Both of them sat rooted to the spot for a few moments, Olivia frozen with panic, Enrique goggling as the carefully piled hair tumbled past his friend's shoulders.  He broke the spell himself by choosing to gag on his unchewed bite of sandwich, and promptly began to cough loudly, eyes watering.  Olivia had no choice but to pound him on the back until the tremors stopped and he looked back up at her, jaw dropping slightly.

It took him a few incoherent squeaks, but he finally managed to get the words out.  "Oliver…y-you're a…girl?"

~-~-~-~-~-

[1] – Yes, that was Unicolyon.  I enjoy making Bitbeasts P.O.ed.

[2] – Because this AU Johnny can actually learn from his mistakes. *snerk*

And after the alarming show of popular demand, we finally have Chapter 2 with it's accompanying cliffhanger!  Don't you just love this? =P

A bit BBB wants me to add: this whole thing was inspired by the movie Mulan.  (So, who can see the references? ;) ) Also, even though this is veeery slow, it will be finished eventually.  It's going to be part of an arc…so you have plenty to look out for XD

 PinkDevil – XD Yes, Linkin Park rules…and here's more!  Muha!

HI – Erm…that's true encouragement for you…

Chain Gun – Mehe, yes, I find it a little odd myself, writing a non-yaoi fic…*huggles*

Maroku: Must.  Write.  Yaoi—mmph!

BBB: *hand over her mouth* NO!  DON'T SAY IT!

Jorntil and Jiaan: *chorus* YAOI!

BBB: -_-*

Sacria: Sorry about the torture, I know it's been a long while since this was updated but…man…school was being the little hellhole it usually is… *yawns*

Draconis Gion: @_@

Jorntil: Repetitive isn't he…OW! 

BBB: *retrieves his Megaman figure, whistling innocently*

Jorntil: *evil glare*

BBB: Pocky?

Flaming Pineapple: Actually, the plot is all set/planned out…we may use some of your ideas, though.  Sankyuu!

Riyao Machrine: Good to know – I'm waiting eagerly for an update XD You have a point – it can pass for a one-shot, can't it?  But it's not.

See you all in chapter 3!  Erm… *looks around for muses* O__O

All: *pigging out on Pocky*

_ BBB…do you have any clue what a bad-

Maroku: WAHAHAHA!  *things start randomly blowing up*

Jorntil: Mmmm…pretty colours…

*is singed* -idea that was?  Itai…

BBB: O.o;