Running Away
By: Spitfire_Sae
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the beyblade characters or anyone you are familiar with. I can only claim Sonia for myself. Amber Benson belongs to Zadien as does her family (the Bensons' and the Del Areeces') while Miyami Kinomiya belongs to ChibiTari/Unlucky Star. Anyone else who I use will be disclaimed later.
Summary: Sonia Martini has finally found friends who accept her. No more teasing, mocking or bullying for her and she's a senior. This year is an Adventure waiting to happen. But when Ozuma Benson returns to her life, you just know things are going to get interesting. But will sweet Skip let a chance at love pass her by or will she seize it with both hands.
A.N. Hello! Well I decided that my other fics deal too much with Amber Benson and how is anyone supposed to like Sonia when no one really knows her. So this is the fic that will explain all about her and her family, her insecurities and her strengths. Anyways I'd like to thank those who helped me with my loss of confidence. Tari and ZD, and also Ice Archer girl whose comments inspired me. I'm not sure whether I'm going to continue United… I just don't feel like it, but if I don't, well Taris' doing something like that, I think. And Gems will prolly get round to it sometime.
Oh and if you all like Zadiens' Love/Hate then you are sure to love Kindred Insanity's Love/Hate: A Tangled Web. It's amazingly well written and Kirby and Mikel are so funny to read about.
Chapter one: Friends are everything
"Sonia wake up!" a voice called out as a reasonably sized fist hammered on the door.
The girl in question; a certain Sonia Anne Martini rolled her bright, friendly sapphire blue eyes dramatically. And she had good reason to do so. She'd been up since 8:30 that morning and had already gone for her ritual morning run. Just because she didn't feel the need to wake the entire house when she did, didn't mean she wasn't awake, just that she was a courteous human being which was more than she could say for her brother Steve Martini. Despite the fact that both siblings had sport in common, they were very different. Sonia was lithe and stood at only 5ft 5". She was bronzed from the many years she'd spent in Australia and her hair was garnet with gold streaks with bright blue eyes. She made quite a striking picture but she preferred to stand in the shadows so as not to draw attention to herself. She was shy to outsiders and bubbly and vibrant when with her friends and she was studious. Her parents felt that as she was smart she should be getting A's in everything and Sonia hated to disappoint people.
Steve on the other hand was built like a football player, with dark green hair and brown eyes. His skin tone was paler than his sisters because he burnt easily which was one reason why he was glad to get out of Australia and move to Bakuten a small sea side town in Connecticut. He was bull headed; hated school and nearly everything that wasn't sports. And he loved being centre of attention; in fact he craved it which was ok in his family because his sister never tried to steal the spotlight from him. Of course just because she never tried didn't mean it wasn't stolen from him anyway. But he harboured no ill feeling towards her because it was impossible for him to hate her; she was too nice. Though some did hate her because they believed she was perfect which was in his opinion bullshit. No body was perfect and Sonia definitely wasn't. She just didn't bad mouth people, she tried to be honest and she just liked to help people but god help anyone who got on her bad side. She was a Martini and all Martini's had a volatile temper, you just had to work hard to get Sonia to show hers.
"I'm awake all right?" she called back as she tried to separate her bangs equally so that they fell down to frame her pretty face. She liked her bangs, she'd long decided that they were her best features. They started out a dark garnet before bleaching to a gold then darkening near to the end to a burnt gold. They were striking and always drew attention to her eyes.
Finally feeling that they were as equal as they'd ever be, she danced over to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of boot leg jeans. To go with it she chose a navy blue polo-neck T-shirt and white cotton hooded jacket. After dressing herself she was about to head down to the kitchen when she realised that she didn't have her shoes on. Frowning she tried to remember where she'd placed them after running. Dropping to her knees she caught sight of her Sketchers, so she tugged them on. Deciding that her friend Miyami would have nothing to criticise about her appearance she grabbed her Discman and her shoulder bag and then she headed out of her bedroom.
She bounded into the kitchen and rose a brow at her brother who must have been on his second cup on coffee because he was actually reading the newspaper –sports page of course. It was a well known fact that none of the Martini's could function properly until they had at least 2 cups of coffee in them which led the female teen to believe she'd been adopted. She crossed to the fridge and pulled a carton of OJ out and after fetching a glass she seated herself on one of the barstools by the island and she turned her gaze to the TV.
"So did you get beaten?"
Her response was a grunt.
"I'll take that to be a yes. How badly?"
Steve sighed heavily. It seemed his kid sister wasn't picking up on the hint that he didn't want to talk about it. "20-3"
Sonia snorted. "No way. You guys don't suck that bad. What happened?"
"Jordan got a hand injury during a roughing, our goalie took a swing at the ref. and was banned from the match-"
Sonia winced. "Was he at least provoked?"
Steve shrugged. "I was in the penalty box at the time for a tripping so I didn't see, but he keeps maintaining that the other teams enforcer made rude and suggestive comments about his mother and the ref. took the Dalesides' side."
"Oh well then that's understandable." She reasoned. "I mean I'd hit some one if they said something about mom."
"True but everyone makes comments about Jackson's mom. He should be use to it."
She merely shrugged and took a considering sip of her orange juice. "Oh well you win some you lose some. You'll do better next time."
"Sure. So what are you doing today?" when she didn't answer he looked up to find her wiping her glasses. "Sons?"
"Huh? Oh right last day of hols. I'm meeting Amber and Miyami down at the Friars rest and then we'll hang out before heading to the beach party. Johnny's bands got a gig."
"I'll probably see you down there."
Her blue-blue eyes narrowed at him from behind the stylish black frames which Miyami had helped her pick out. "You don't need to check up on me, I'm a big girl now Stevie."
"I never said I was checking up on you." He defended. "Just checking up on guys who may be checking up on you." When she gave him her pointed look he hurriedly added. "That is to say if you need me, I'll be around, k?"
She sighed but nodded. There was no dissuading him anyway. He was always going to interrogate every guy who even looked at her. Hadn't he interrogated Kai and the poor guy hadn't even know her name at the time. She had to smile at the memory of Steve trying to intimidate the bluenette who was taller than him by at least 3 inches. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was ten to ten. Draining the last of her orange juice and snagging a piece of toast from her brother she exited the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roughly ten minutes later she was cycling through the heart of Bakuten. The town of Bakuten was gorgeous in the summer and in the autumn and the winter and spring. It was just one of those towns that made people really glad to be part of the community but everyone knowing your name got a little annoying after a while. Still she liked the friendliness of it, after the hustle and bustle of Sydney it was nice to be able to go to the local businesses and know the proprietors and not having to get a menu every time you went to the café made things handier. She cycled through the diamond and admired a group of children showing off skateboarding tricks in the oval. On the other side of the diamond a mother was teaching her daughter to roller blade much like Amber had tried to do the summer after Sonia had first arrived.
She had been so nervous moving to Bakuten particularly since she hadn't been too popular back in Sydney. She'd just never met anyone that she could be herself with and people who didn't get to know her, or didn't want to; made each school day hell for her. Bakuten had been a chance to start anew and she had. She now had excellent friends courtesy of Amber Benson and Miyami Kinomiya who'd befriended her on her first day in art class.
She'd complained about the music that had been playing forgetting that she wasn't sitting on her own in the corner like she had in Sydney but that there were too very talkative and opinionated girls sitting just in front of her and both were pretty unhappy with the music themselves. Miyami had immediately locked on to her and Sonia had felt the first stirrings of nerves as she feared they'd gang up on her, but she'd been most definitely mistaken. After spending that class trading comments on music, then on bands and other stuff, the girls had become quite friendly with each other so much so that for the next couple of weeks Sonia had sat beside them in the classes they shared. Soon she was hanging out with them at lunch and they'd even invite her out with them after school.
Over the following years she'd formed a firm friendship with the girls, who she now looked to as sister figures and through them she met Aspin, Arista and Russia. It was amazing for a girl who'd never had many friends in a big city to have such an amazing clique of friends in such a small town; though no one was as tight as Amber and Miyami. They were the dynamic duo; outgoing and outrageous.
She freewheeled the rest of the way to slow to a stop at the Friars Rest which was owned by the Du-Ponts. A nice family who originated from France; their son was actually in some of her classes and he was an amazing chef. In fact this summer he'd been giving cooking lessons at the local culinary college before heading over to France to do a bit of studying. He would make quite the entrepreneur when he was finished with his education. She parked her bike by the back and walked round to the front and in the door. Already the place was packed with tourists out to get an early start and a nice breakfast. Scanning the place for her friends she located them near the back and she winced when she saw them. She spotted Miyami's silver hair and Tala Valkov's red hair styled like horns immediately. They were at one table both looking from the table to their left, to the one on their right. At the right one sat a cool and calculating two toned bluenette called Kai Hiwatari while at the left one sat a very sulky dark haired Amber.
Sighing Sonia weaved her way towards them, almost being knocked over by two children who were chasing each other round the tables. Finally reaching them, she collapsed into a chair opposite Miyami. She looked first to Amber then to Kai.
"OK what has she done this time?"
An indignant "Hey!" was heard from the Irish girl but everyone ignored her except Kai who smirked.
Miyami rolled her silver eyes. "Kai refused to give her a lift into town and she almost got run over because she didn't want to be late. So she's blaming him for it in case she got killed."
Sonia sighed before turning to Amber who she caught sticking her tongue out at her nemesis. Shrugging the Australian looked back to her friends. "Well today's going to be a riot isn't it?"
Tala smirked and turned to his best friend –the male one. "Just apologise."
"No."
"Would it have killed you to give her a lift in?" Sonia wondered.
He shrugged looking nonplussed while Amber looked as though she wanted to strangle him; then she shot to her feet and came to sit beside Sonia. She flashed a grin at Kai. "Heh, you would have felt bad if I actually died today or got seriously hurt."
"Don't bet on it." Was his reply.
Miyami grinned slyly. "You know you would."
"No I wouldn't." he stated keeping his gaze firmly on his petite neighbour.
"What can I say, I'm adorable. If you don't think I am, then you're gay just as I suspected." She stated triumphantly sticking her tongue out.
Sonia watched as Tala and Miyami exchanged amused glances. All of them were use to the verbal spars Amber and Kai got involved with which Amber usually finished with an unexpected comment.
"I think my girlfriend would have something to say about that." Kai boasted as he pulled a chair up to join them. Unfortunately for him, the only unoccupied space at the table was between Amber and Sonia, and the garnet haired Australian suspected that he'd rather sit between Tala and Miyami. "As would half the female population of Bakuten High."
"I always knew you were a man whore."
Sonia choked back a laugh at her friends grumbling.
"What about the male population?" Miya asked innocently winking conspiratorially at her best friend.
"What about them?"
Amber grinned. "Well we figure that the half population of women has to be those that consist of ditzs and those who can't pick up on the signals that show you're as gay as rose coloured curtains, so what do the male population have to say?"
The Russian glared at the unruly Irish girl.
"Gay as rose coloured curtains Benny?" Tala inquired with one blood red brow quirked.
She aimed one of her killer watt smiles at her childhood buddy. "Good one, huh?"
"Well it does make sense." Sonia offered. Everyone looked at her and she shrugged. "Well it does if you think about it but we'll settle this argument by calling him Bisexual and we'll leave it at that."
Kai looked as though a bucket of cold water had been emptied over him, before his breath exploded out. "I'm not Bi." He hissed.
Some people at the neighbouring tables looked at him and shook their heads. Amber smirked at the look of outrage on his handsome face. "Uh-huh you keep telling yourself that." She patted his hand as though to comfort him.
Quick as lightning Kai snagged her wrist and twisted it enough to earn a gasp of pain. He released and watched smugly as she rubbed her tender flesh.
"Ow! Fuck!"
Miyami punched her male friends tricep hard enough to make him flinch. "That was uncalled for."
Tala reached over the table to take the girls wrist and examined it. Frowning he lifted his turquoise eyes to meet the cherry-wood of his fellow Russian. "You could have broken her wrist." He told him quietly while the ochre eyed girl nursed her arm, stroking the bruise which was forming while whimpering softly.
Kai shrugged carelessly but Sonia being the ever observant one caught the considering look in his eyes as he regarded the smaller girl. Sonia had to agree with Tala that Kai could have easily snapped Amber's wrist like a twig without much effort.
Suddenly the bluenette hissed in pain and before he could retaliate Amber growled. "You lay a finger on me Hiwatari and I'll scream abuse." Her eyes never left her wrist.
Kai opened his mouth to shoot something back but the look Miyami and Tala shot him was enough for him to bite his tongue. Instead he settled for glaring a hole in the back of her head.
Sonia sighed. Things usually weren't this heated because usually there was a bigger group of them but most had been away on holiday and were still jet lagged. Kai and Amber hardly ever spoke to each other during the school year which was actually quite startling since they were next door neighbours. They even shared a back yard so it was amazing they hadn't killed each other yet.
Suddenly something popped into the Australians head and made her grin. She turned her gaze to her silver haired Japanese friend.
"Johnny's back today isn't he Am's?"
Amber raised her head from her folded arms and nodded confusion showing clearly in her whiskey eyes as she looked from Sonia to Miyami. "Think so."
Miyami raised a brow. "And?"
"Oh I was just commenting."
"The hell you were." Miyami retorted. "What are you planning Sonia Martini?"
Blue eyes widened a picture of innocence. "Nothing."
Tala snickered then quickly sobered when the usually calm girl scowled at him. "Sorry." He mumbled averting his gaze when his best friends grinned at him.
"So what are you planning really?" Miyami inquired honestly curious as to what the usually quiet girl was up to.
"She's probably thinking of setting you two up now that you've broken up with Malo." Amber stated, as she stretched back lazily, letting her ochre eyes scan the tourists.
Miyami's silver eyes tinted crimson. "Oh no you don't."
Again the blue eyes widened. "I'm not— ok I am, but Miya, you two would be so cute together. And Johnny's always had a thing about you, and I saw the way you were looking at him when he went to that summer party with… what was her name?"
All their brows furrowed, and though Miyami remembered exactly who he'd gone with, she was not going to say. In the end it was Kai who had answered. "Miranda Fletchly."
Sonia made a face. "Right her. How did you remember who… never mind." She shook her head, then turned back to Miyami. "Ok so I saw how you looked at him when he went there with her and now you're both free and you can be together. You can't say you feel nothing for him!" she accused.
"Sonia I am not being matched maked by you!"
"Why not?"
"Because. Find someone else to match make."
"I would." The younger girl mumbled, then sighed. "But there is no one else. Kane and Aspin got together, Ruin and Tala are still going strong, right?"
Tala nodded, then a smile played on his lips. "She should be back today."
"Aw and you missed her while she was away, didn't you?" Amber teased cheering up slightly.
Miyami frowned, tucking a strand of silver hair behind her ear. "Why don't you get a guy?"
Sonia rolled her eyes. "Pssh, like that's going to happen. I have accepted my fate of never having a guy in high school."
Amber nodded. "Yup we're going to grow old and have many cats."
"And live in a house by the sea."
"Can it look like a shoe?"
"Nope some other lady lives there with all her many children."
The rest of the occupants of the table watched the conversation with bewildered expressions. Sometimes this happened, Amber seemed to be the initiator of these strange conversations by saying something completely insane. Miyami would always instantly understand her and Sonia could often get it if it was obvious, but the guys weren't as clever so they got left out of these conversations. They'd long ago accepted that.
"There are plenty of guys who like you, Sonia." Miyami told her confidently. "They just feel intimidated by you being good at everything that's all. AS for you Amber--"
"They're just intimidated by those two and J." She responded motioning to the two males with her thumbs and referring to her Scottish buddy. Suddenly her head shot up and she leapt out of her seat with a squeal. "OLIVER!!!"
They all watched as the dark haired girl as she made her way towards a lime green haired male teen who'd just entered the café. He'd only placed his luggage down when she launched herself into his arms. He caught her deftly, before letting her down again and hugging her close.
"Why does she never greet me like that?" Tala wondered dejectedly. "I am her best friend after all."
"Best male friend." Miyami corrected. "Besides because Oliver's gay she doesn't have to worry about him feeling her up."
Kai snorted. "Why would anyone feel the minx up?"
"I'd say lots of guys would like to get their hands on your Ember." Sonia confessed knowingly. "She has a lot of great qualities."
"Like?"
"Like she's pretty, in the girl-next-door kind of way. She's understated."
"Plus she's untouched." Miyami added.
"Uh-huh. And she has a great personality, she's generous and has a big heart. More so she has all the interests guys have, except for women with big breasts, I don't think she can fully appreciate them like boys can."
Miyami chuckled. "Interesting Sunny-D. Oh and she has a cute butt."
Tala rose a brow at that. "You looking Kinomiya?"
"Well as a designer I'm trained to notice who can model my clothes to the best ability, but no I over heard a couple of guys talking about it in the changing rooms the other day."
"Who?"
Miyami smirked inwardly as her gaze travelled over to meet the intense gaze of Kai Hiwatari. "Oh I couldn't give you exact names, but come on Kai, you couldn't be expected to keep your Midget-gem away from the guys forever. They were going to notice her eventually."
(Ha!Ha! Sorry Gems had to do it. Oh and Tari this is one of the Betty quotes! Sorry readers.)
Tala and Kai exchanged meaningful glances, knowing that what the Japanese girl had said was right. They couldn't keep Amber to themselves forever.
"So you better make your move, or you risk losing her forever." Sonia concluded exchanging a quick grin with Miyami. Their plan having been a total success as they noted how Kai's eyes remained fixed to the bright eyed Irish girl as she made their way back to them, her brow furrowed and her gaze fixed to the screen of her cell.
"Kai-pai." She called out in her sing song tone, her melodic accent made the words lilt. "Can you give me a lift into school tomorrow morning?"
"Why?" Kai's voice came out a little gruff.
She rolled her eyes at his tone. Christ the guy could really be a sour puss when he wanted to be, and here she was trying to be nice to him and forget his earlier little misdemeanour. "I want to be at school early ass-prick."
Sonia suppressed a smile. Oh yes, the way to win Kai over was to call him an ass-prick, at least she wasn't calling him an ass-dick as she had all last year, figuring that it was a cool yet subtle way to call him gay.
"You won't be up on time."
"Sure I will."
"I'm leaving Miriam into school tomorrow."
"So? It's not like you'll notice I'm there."
"You make gagging noises when they kiss, Am's." Miyami pointed out.
"Hello you're not helping!" Amber snapped as she shot a pleading look at Tala.
Sonia was sure that should she use her puppy-dog-eyes on Kai he'd have trouble saying no. Even though he mightn't have noticed it yet, everyone else had certainly noticed his change in attitude to his next door neighbour. It wasn't the same as Tala, Kai'd piss her off, torture her endlessly then demand to know exactly where she was at any given moment. He was always keeping a close eye on her, without seeming to. He was good at hiding it from those who didn't know him, but Miyami was one of his closest friends and Sonia never missed anything with her eyes.
"Please!" she whined. "It's important!"
Kai rose a slate blue brow. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why is it important?" he asked patiently as though talking to a five year old.
Amber folded her arms and pouted. "Because it is Dad."
Miyami nudged Kai non-too gently. "What would it cost you to give her a ride into school kiki?"
"What would I gain?"
Amber pondered that for a moment. "Oh I know. I'll be nice to you and I won't call you gay for the whole day! Ooh that rhymed."
Sonia smirked at her friends proud announcement though it seemed as though Amber had had her intake of Pringles and Fanta for the day.
"Sounds too good to be true." The bluenette Russian muttered, but relented. "Fine."
"Yay!"
Tala shook his head. "So why do you want to be early for school?"
"Um. First day back?"
"You mean you're going to start the year as you mean to go on?" Sonia wondered then grinned at her friends frantic nod. "Who texted you?"
The Irish girl cleared her throat. "I have no idea, what you mean."
She'd said it too quickly and everyone caught on to the fact that she was lying, but they shrugged and sat there in companionable silence for a few minutes. Sonia took the time to appreciate her friends. Kai was sullen and quiet, though he had the rep of a player. Though it was understandable; he was incredibly attractive to the female population and the male as Amber loved to point out. He also had the broody persona as well. His family was one of the richest in Bakuten, and he was the heir to a billionaire franchise in bio-pharmaceuticals and hotels as well as other businesses. Amber was vibrant and witty and was a pleasure to be around, though she tended to get on certain peoples' nerves. She was pretty and oozed confidence, though most of it was just false bravado to shield the sheltered vulnerable girl inside. She had always been popular and well liked by her friends because she could be brutally honest in a very tactful way, though sometimes her bluntness got her in trouble.
Miyami was smart, artist and no matter where she went, she always drew people to her. She didn't follow the crowd and liked to form her own opinion on everyone. She was down to earth and didn't let anything go to her head, even though she was amazingly talented in the arts. She wanted to be a designer and a model as well as an actress and Sonia could see nothing that could hinder those dreams. She was an individual and she easily made friends by just being there for everyone, though she was a bit loud and opinionated when she wanted to be. Tala was and always would be Amber's protector in Sonia's eyes. He was hot and he knew it, and when she'd first met him he'd been bouncing from one girl to another, but after a while he'd settled down with Ruin Mulryan. He was bright, charming but sometimes he was a little too over confidant. And often times his sarcastic comments got him in more trouble than he was worth, but for all his bad points, he was Amber's best friend and she loved him like a brother. So that made him a good person in Sonia's books.
"How long are we hanging out here for?"
Sonia rubbed her eyes cutely. "I don't know."
"I don't care as long as someone feeds me once in a while, I'll be quite happy here." This came from Amber, though it was slightly muffled as her head was buried in her folded arms.
Kai shook his head and reached over to rub the nape of the Irish girls golden neck unconsciously. Sonia and Miyami exchanged sly grins as Amber started crooning softly.
Tala slapped his hands on the table causing everyone to jump and Amber's head to shoot up bewildered. "We're not staying here all day. This is our last day of holidays. We're going to be seniors, can't we at least have some fun."
"And I thought every minute spent in Tala Valkov's company was fun." Sonia piped up.
A smirk played on the pale Russian's lips. "That's pleasurable Sons' not fun."
"I find it fun certainly not pleasurable." Amber quipped.
"Neither works for me."
Tala looked mildly insulted at the Japanese girls comment. "Well I'm not staying here all day being bored and watching him pet her! In fact I have someone else to pet, and some very heavy petting to do, so I'm going."
Amber made a disgusted face. "Too much info, T. Mind toning it down a bit."
Miyami grinned and sighed leaning back in her chair. "So what are we going to do?"
"I'd suggest beach, but then we have to deal with Tourists."
"I would suggest tourist season but we did that last year."
Kai nodded, and slumped in his chair. "Life can't be this boring."
"Cinema?"
"And see what?" Tala asked at the same time that Amber said. "It'd be too warm."
Miyami shook her head. "They'll have the AC on. So that won't be too bad. In fact it'll be cooler in the cinema than on the beach."
"Fine if someone can carry me to the cinema then I'll go." Amber stated.
Sonia rolled her eyes. Amber could be when she wanted to be, very lazy. All of them shrugged and stood, Kai firmly intended to leave her there, but finally Tala walked round to her and pulled her to her feet and half dragged, half walked her out of the café. Sonia met Miyami's gaze and they both sighed, before linking arms and following the others out into the heat.
