Disclaimers: I don't own Beyblade; I'm simply using the characters for my and my muse's entertainment.

Kittens and Birds by Yaoi Girl

As Rei had expected, upon returning home his parents forced him to practice his katas and the like in their dojo, so by the time he was ready for bed, he was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

After having stripped down to his boxers and braided his hair for the night, he practically collapsed on his bed.

He had felt guilty ever since he had hit that boy back at the park, but he tried to reason with himself that he deserved it. Max may be different, but that's no reason to call a person like him a freak.

Then there was that seemingly 'perfect' guy…

"Kai, I think is his name…He seems like a real jerk, even more so in person than what Lee says. He acted almost like he was king of the world or something, but I guess it's expected of a rich bastard like him," he sighed, recalling in horrific detail the image of this boy. "And by the look of things, since he seems so spoiled, he's all talk. He'd probably be lucky to land a punch on me at all."

Too tired to think anymore for the night, he lazily rolled over and flicked off his bedroom light on the stand next to him before almost instantly falling asleep.

======

"Rei, did you really hit Yuri?" Lee asked the next day at school, skeptical.

"Where'd you hear that?" he winced ever so slightly, but apparently neither Lee nor the others had noticed.

Lee sighed in relief. "I thought for sure it was you everyone's talking about. They've been saying that some new kid decked him yesterday afternoon and busted his lip."

The wince grew. "It was me," he squeaked, shrinking back a bit.

"Oh, Rei! Did he hurt you at all?" Mao shrieked as she circled Rei frantically, searching with her hands and eyes for any cuts or bruises, causing the boy to blush horribly as she began to lift his shirt in the view of public.

"No!" he managed as he backed away from her, holding the hem of his shirt down tightly. He then turned his attention back to Lee and away from the pouting and discontent Mao. "I did it for a reason though. It's not like I did it because he belongs to the Phoenixes."

"What was the reason then?"

At this, Rei glanced worriedly at Max before he looked back to his patiently waiting leader. "He called Max a freak," he said slowly and sympathetically; he really didn't want to hurt Max's feelings.

"It's fine, Rei. I'm used to it now," Max said, managing a smile, though the raven-haired boy knew it was forced. "But since you stood up for me, I'd be more than willing to take your place if you do ever fight Kai."

"No; if it ever comes to that, I'm doing it. He needs to be put in his place."

Shortly after that, the bell for their first class rang and they went their ways until their usual meeting time after school.

======

"Are ya done yet?"

Kenny, usually the ever patient and calm one, was so close to slapping the irritating Takao that even Kai was about to laugh.

"If you ask me one more time…" he said between gritted teeth, keeping his gaze locked onto his laptop screen as he made a few modifications to something or other. "I'll tell the headmaster what you did with his toupee last week."

At this, the bluenette smiled victoriously at his completed mission. He had been the only person to successfully kidnap the headmaster's hairpiece and get away with it, as in the headmaster never saw him during the taking of his fake hair, and where it was hiding only Takao knew, though it was located in the school. If his parents found it at home, he'd be grounded for weeks and have no dessert with dinner for who knew how long, and probably the same punishment if he was ever found out at school.

"How close are you to being finished?"

At this, Kenny's head snapped up and his rarely seen emerald eyes landed on Kai, somewhat surprised that Kai of all people had interrupted him in his rather irate mood.

"I've got the basic outline of it, but I have to make sure there's no loopholes."

"Will it be done by tonight?"

The brunette nodded as he focused again on his laptop screen. "I'll e-mail it to you when I'm completely done."

Takao had opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it and soon after began to yelp as Kai grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away, Yuri following behind them, trying to conceal his wounded lip from the other students that lingered in the halls after school.

No sooner than the trio was outside of the school gates, Takao's eyes widened in shock as Kai and Yuri's turned to icy glares at the boy standing before them.

"What do you want?" Yuri spat as he began to walk up to Rei, Kai grabbing his arm and holding him in place by his side.

"I felt bad for hitting you yesterday and I wanted to apologize. I have a tendency to overreact sometimes."

"You're apologizing?! To me?!" the red-head gawked, confused.

"What would Lee say if he knew about this?" the bluenette spoke, smirking as he was rather amused by the scene before him; no one from the White Tigers had apologized to them for anything.

"Look, I'm doing this as a person, not as a member of the White Tigers, okay? So Lee doesn't need to know."

Kai bit his lower lip in thought as Yuri and Rei had a somewhat civilized conversation about why exactly Rei was apologizing to him when the other boy did deserve to be hit.

'Maybe I won't have to follow Kenny's plan exactly…'

"Well, I think that all should be forgiven and we should start over, as people and not members of a group or school rivals," Kai interrupted the two, gaining an overly confused look from Yuri.

Rei looked at Kai's now outstretched hand, not sure whether to accept the gesture or not, but finally he placed his hand in Kai's.

"I'm Hiwatari Kai. Nice to meet you," he greeted in a way that Takao and Yuri only knew as an 'up to no good Kai'.

"Kon Rei," the raven-haired teen said shortly, still rather unsure as they shook hands.

"Now that that's out of the way, how would you like to go out to lunch with us to settle the ordeal from yesterday and get to know each other? My treat."

"I can't; I should really be getting back to the others before they think something's up. Maybe next time?"

The bluenette tried his best not to frown or glare, plastering on a fake smile that was believable. "Sure. Next time."

"See you later then," he waved as he took off in a run down the sidewalk towards the park for the group's afternoon rendezvous.

"Dude, that was sickening. Don't ever do that again," Takao grimaced, almost gagging while Yuri nodded in agreement, still in confusion and shock at what their leader had just done.

Kai rolled his eyes and promptly smacked the other bluenette upside the head, his icy demeanor returning. "Don't you get it?"

"Get what?"

At this, Kai's temple began to throb. "I'm trying to gain his trust. If we approach him as normal people, he should be naïve enough to fall for our trick, and then in the end, we'll destroy the White Tigers," he explained matter of factly to his rather idiotic friend.

======

'That was too weird…' Rei thought as he continued to run. 'He was way too friendly for someone that was badmouthing me just yesterday afternoon. But then again, he doesn't like Lee, so maybe he's really a nicer person in private than when he's around him?'

"Rei?! Where have you been?" Mao pouted as he finally caught up to them.

"My mom called my cell phone and wanted me to come home for something," he lied beautifully.

"Then why didn't you take me with you so I could meet her?"

"Enough, Mao," Lee said, getting rather fed up with her whining. "We have practicing to do before the martial arts tournament next weekend, so lets get busy."

'I thought for sure Lee would see through my lie…' Rei inwardly sighed in relief as he followed his friends to their usual clearing to practice.

======

After their practice was finished, Lee and Mao headed home, Max staying behind with Rei.

"Where were you really?" the blonde asked as he toweled his sweaty face from his resting spot on the grass.

The raven-haired teen hung his head slightly; he was usually a horrible lair and knew someone would see through the one he gave earlier.

"I went and had a talk with the Phoenixes," he replied as he turned his back, knowing the look of shock that would pass over Max's face as soon as the information was processed.

"Why?"

"I…Even though Yuri insulted you and I hit him because he deserved it, I felt bad and…told him I was sorry. And he even apologized for calling you that. They're actually not bad people."

"They're trying to pull something. They've never been nice when we've crossed paths," the blonde said as he and Rei began their walk home.

"They're that way when they're around Lee, but earlier, when it was just me, they were actually nice and civilized."

"I still say they're up to no good."

Rei shrugged. 'I suppose Max has the right to think that since he's known them for a while, whereas I just met the White Tigers a month ago and the Phoenixes just yesterday…'

"Rei!"

Both boys stopped, turning to the somewhat familiar voice of Hiwatari Kai.

Max tried his hardest not to glare or give the other boy a dirty look, wanting to test Rei's theory of Kai being kind when Lee wasn't with them.

"I was going to give you my number earlier so you could call me when you…" he stopped, looking to Max, having just seen realized that he was with Rei. He didn't want to say anything that could possibly give his plan away. "Need help studying Algebra," he lied, though he assumed Rei knew why he was giving him his number. Kai then pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Oh, right! Algebra. That has to be the world's hardest subject," the raven-haired boy played along.

"So, um, yeah. I'll talk to you later then. Nice to see you, Max," he said before turning and walking off, waving over his shoulder with his evil smirk in place.

"Algebra?" Max drawled as they again began to walk. "And we're not good enough to help you?"

"You need to stop pointing out when I'm lying," he smiled. What harm would it to be to tell Max about the lunch meeting? "He offered to take me and the rest of the Phoenixes out to lunch so we could get to know each other on friendly terms, not as rivals since he has nothing personally against me."

"So he's not wanting to fight you anymore? I find that hard to believe. I think he's trying to find out your weaknesses and use them against you."

"If I pick up any hints that that's the case, I'll keep away from them, alright? And please don't tell Lee any of this!" Rei pleaded.

"I won't, so long as you talk Kai into letting me come with you to lunch. I don't want you with them by yourself."

"I'll ask him tonight then."

======

Kai scowled slightly as he waited for the pair the next afternoon. 'He wasn't supposed to tell him. But so long as Max doesn't tell Lee what's going on, I suppose it doesn't matter.'

"Oh, come on! Lighten up! You get to toy with the new kitten today," Takao chirped as he slung an arm over Kai's shoulders, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, this could be a plus to the plan. If we gain Max's trust as well as Rei's, it will be just Mao and Lee left," Kenny chimed in as he stood next to Takao.

"But there's a slight problem with that. With just the two of them left and only me to fight, they would win because Max and Rei wouldn't fight with me. Not unless…No," Kai said, shrugging Takao's arm off of him.

"What?"

"We get Rei and Max to fall for two of us, then they wouldn't let Mao or Lee near us."

"And it's almost pretty much set that Kai's going after Rei," Yuri said with a knowing smile, Takao glowering slightly at the red-head, but it went unnoticed.

"No, he'll be coming after me. I have no intention of actually dating a guy. But yes, I intend to 'win his heart'."

"Here they come," Kenny whispered as he caught sight of the pair a moment later.

"And please don't do the overly friendly thing again, Kai," Takao whispered disgustedly, to which he received a slight warning glare.

"Then no dessert or extra food for you."

"No fair!!!"

TBC

Tada .; I hope it's starting to get a little more interesting to read…