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

Usually, Max wasn't one to fear the Phoenixes, but today, however, he walked behind Rei, cautiously eyeing the group of boys as they approached them, much to Rei's dismay.

"They're not going to bite you, Max," the raven-haired boy had smiled behind him.

"Not too hard anyway," Yuri grinned.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking us? If you have other plans or whatever, we won't be upset."

"Sounds like you don't want to go," Kai said as he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against, his arms remaining crossed over his chest.

"No, I want to; I just don't want to be rude or anything," Rei shrugged as he began to follow the Phoenixes' leader, soon after falling in step with him at the head of the pack, leaving Max a little tense with the other boys, even more so when Takao threw an arm over his shoulders.

"You don't need to be so afraid. We're not going to jump you guys or anything," he grinned, frowning and removing his arm a moment later when Max continued to stare ahead, his expression somewhat irritated. "And I thought Kai could be a sourpuss," he mumbled.

"C'mon, Max! Give them a chance," Rei smiled as he turned to walk backwards.

"What am I supposed to talk to them about?" the blonde mumbled. He couldn't think of a single thing to start or continue a conversation without possibly starting a fight between himself and Rei or with the Phoenixes.

"Here we are," Kai stated, surprising himself and the rest of his group when he caught Rei, who had begun to fall when he turned to face the bluenette. He quickly helped to steady Rei and walked into the pizza place before anyone started asking questions; Kai had never done anything to help any of his friends in such a situation, and had never just done something like that without even thinking.

The place wasn't too big, but it was busy. They were lucky to claim a six-person booth.

Rei had climbed into his seat first, so he was sitting next to the rather large window, then Kai, then Yuri. On the other side, Max sat across from Rei, Takao sitting next to him, then Kenny, who really had no interest in coming along for the afternoon, and so flipped open his laptop to entertain himself.

"Have you ever eaten here before?" Takao asked Max as the waitress began to sit their mini-plates and the like in front of them; he would've asked Rei too, but he was currently busy telling the waitress what he wanted to drink.

"Once, when I was younger," he said as he looked over the menu, having given the waitress his drink order after Rei.

"Only once?! This is probably my second favorite place to eat in town!"

Max smiled somewhat. "I'm not much of a pizza person. My parents order out sometimes, but I usually pass."

"It seems that they're starting to get along. I told him that you guys weren't as bad as what Lee makes you guys out to be," Rei smiled as he rested his cheek in his palm, looking to Kai. "So, who are those two? I obviously know you and Yuri."

"That's Takao; the ever annoying one," he said with a slight roll of his eyes as he inclined his head slightly to show who the indicated boy was, then did the same to Kenny. "And the one absorbed in his laptop over there is Kenny. Don't worry if he doesn't respond to you; he usually gets wrapped up in making new programs and such."

"Do they always act like that?"

"Takao, every chance he gets, but he might behave himself somewhat today since there's 'new' people, but don't expect it next time, and Kenny, he just flips that decrepit thing open when he's not interested in what's going on or when he really needs to finish something."

"It's not decrepit! It's just under a year old for your information!" the brunette unexpectedly snapped before almost instantly returning to his task at hand.

Kai snorted softly and rolled his eyes, rolling his straw paper into a ball while he also placed his cheek in his palm, looking over to Rei.

"So, how long have you been in town?"

"Just over a month."

"Sucks, doesn't it? The town I mean."

"Not really. The town I just moved from didn't have much either. I was actually kinda glad to move; I needed a new start."

"Why's that?" the bluenette asked as he then flicked the paper ball at Takao's head, receiving a glare from the boy as it bounced off his forehead and into his drink that the waitress had just brought, a bored sigh from Yuri, and a giggle from Max.

"I didn't have many friends there, and the ones I had were scared of me. Pretty much day in and day out when I wasn't in school, my parents made me practice my martial arts. Ever since I was little, they had entered me in every competition that they could, no matter how far they had to travel. And now that they've moved us here, it's pretty much the same routine, except now I get some time to myself after school and I only have to go to the closer tournaments."

"My parents try to keep me out of any type of fighting, even against, you know…" he said, not wanting to bring up group names since it was a 'friendly' day.

"That's the way my parents are too. I'm only supposed to fight in a competition unless absolutely necessary."

The waitress came back and took their order, leaving the boys to talk again for a while before their food arrived, in which time Takao had burped the ABCs at least three times forward and once backward.

"That's real talent you have there," Max teased Takao.

"That's not all I can do!"

"And if you do anything else while I'm around, your ass -will- meet the pavement," Yuri chimed in, already being nauseated by the display.

"The onion fritters!" Takao whispered excitedly as he caught site of the waitress bringing out their pizza. [1]

"Onion…fritters?" Rei slowly asked, confused, eyeing first Takao then Kai.

"Don't ask," Kai simply said as he fought with the hot and stringy cheese after putting a slice of pizza on his plate a few moments later. "It's Takao we're talking about here."

"Hey, guys, watch thi…!" the energetic bluenette began excitedly, stopping what he was about to do at the rather dark glare of his group. "Or not…"

======

"Thanks for dinner," Rei said after they walked back to the Star Dust Academy, where they had met that afternoon. "I had a lot of fun."

"Me too," Max said, smiling from his spot next to Takao, whom he appeared to have taking a liking to.

They talked for a few more minutes, Max showing off his transforming capabilities to Yuri, Takao, and Kenny. Meanwhile, Kai had pulled Rei aside.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to do something this weekend? Just the two of us?" Kai asked nonchalantly as he leaned against the low brick walling around the school, Rei sitting on it next to him.

"Why just the two of us?"

"I think Takao was wanting to invite Max over to his place for a sleepover or something. And Yuri and Kenny don't usually go to the movies; they fall asleep halfway through them."

"I'll ask my parents, but I'm pretty sure I could."

Kai started to push himself off the wall as Rei began to speak again.

"Is that all you wanted?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was just curious, seeing as you pulled me away from them just to ask me a simple question. You could've even asked me that on the phone."

"You've seen how they are; they'll think I'm asking you on a date or something. And I didn't think about asking if I called you; it probably would've slipped my mind till the last second."

"What if I took it as you were asking me out on a date?" Rei asked, swinging his legs back and forth slightly with the faintest hint of a blush spread across his cheeks.

Luckily, Kai had his back to Rei and he grimaced. Sure, that was the plan, but if things went too well too soon, things would go downhill just as quickly, he was sure.

"If that's the way you want to interpret it, then fine," he shrugged, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"I was just joking. I know a guy like you doesn't like guys that way; I can tell from the way you are around the others. And you didn't sound sincere about how I could interpret it, not to mention the fact that we just basically met."

"How can you be so sure? I could swing either way, you know," he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to face Rei.

"I doubt it. Besides, if I ever dated a guy, I'd never hear the end of it from my parents," he replied as he hopped down from the low wall.

"So is it a date or not?"

"Whatever way you want to interpret it, Kai," the raven-haired boy smiled as he walked past Kai to rejoin the others. "I'll call you Friday afternoon to let you know for sure."

======

"So…you and Kai are kinda dating?" Max asked, confused, as he and Rei walked home that evening.

"Not really. I mean, we just basically got acquainted today, so…" he trailed off, giving a vague shrug and hand gesture.

"But you want to, am I right?"

"Yes and no. He seems really nice and all…"

"Not to mention a great body, and his eyes are so gorgeous…"

At this, Rei turned and gave him a rather surprised look.

"Heh…sorry. Continue on," the blonde grinned sheepishly.

The raven-haired teen laughed slightly as he shook his head before continuing. "Kai just doesn't seem like the type to date guys; he asked me how I knew that he didn't swing either way, but I just have this feeling that he only goes after girls. And if my parents caught wind that I was dating a guy…" he shook his head, random punishments coming to mind. "Although I do agree with what you said…"

"And if Lee found out if you ever dated the leader of the Phoenixes, he'd do goddess knows what. And Mao…" the blonde said with a shudder, images of the pink-haired neko-jin attacking Kai and the possible ways of her killing him and then Rei's punishment for 'cheating' on her.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Kai won't date me," the raven-haired boy said matter of factly as he plucked a lightning bug from the air, studying it as they walked until it flew from his palm. "What about Takao? You two seemed to get along pretty well."

At hearing the bluenette's name, Max blushed. "Other than his public displays of randomness, he's not so bad. He even invited me over Friday night to sleepover so we could get to know each other a little more."

"To make out you mean," Rei teased, receiving a shove in the arm while they both laughed.

"You're just jealous."

"Maybe a little, but not of Takao. I wish I had parents that were as accepting as yours," he sighed wistfully. "But if you two started seeing each other, you'd have to watch out for Lee too."

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Do you think you have a shot with him?"

"I don't know. It seems like he has a crush on someone already, and I think that it might be Kai…"

Rei's eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought, and then he nodded once. "I think you might be right. I mean, they've been best friends since they were little, so they know just about every dirty secret and button to push on each other, and I thought I seen Takao glancing at him an awful lot too. But then again, we could both be seeing things that aren't really there at all."

"Maybe." It was then silent for a few moments before Max laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Here we are, getting worked up over a couple guys that we just basically met and we don't even know if we have the slightest chance with them."

Rei smiled. "You're right. Blame it on the teenage hormones."

======

"So the kitten's going along with the plan?" Yuri asked Kai as the group headed towards their homes.

Their leader nodded, his mind seemingly elsewhere.

"You're not actually interested in him, are you?" Takao asked, noticing Kai's odd behavior.

"Of course not. Can't a guy think every once in a while? You can't leave everything up to Kenny; I need my own creativity in this plan too."

"Admit it; you were thinking about him."

"As soon as you admit you were thinking about Max in a more than friendly manner," Kai spat, jamming his hands deep in his pockets, disgusted with the thought.

"Oh, please. I've already got my eyes set on someone," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever."

"Stop it, you two. I swear; you two act like a married couple with the way you're always bickering and at each other's throats," Kenny sighed in irritation causing Yuri to snicker.

"Ha ha, very funny. See you guys tomorrow," Takao huffed while walking up the sidewalk to his house.

"Alright, dear," Kai called to further ruffle the brunette, smirking all the while. "Sleep well."

"Shut up!" the miffed bluenette called before slamming his front door.

"He'll be over in an hour," Kai said while rolling his eyes. "Anything to annoy me and keep me from sleeping."

"Better your place than mine," Yuri snickered. At this, the redhead received a smack upside the head from Kai for his smart remark.

"You better watch it or I'll send him your way while you're asleep, armed with water balloons at that."

Yuri decided to keep his mouth shut for a while; Kai would do it.

They walked for another block, Kai walking for the hell of it, anything so he didn't have to go home to his griping parents. Kenny was the first of the three to then head home and Yuri and Kai took another lap around the block.

"What are you doing with him this weekend? You didn't tell us."

"Probably just a movie," the bluenette shrugged, uninterested with the subject.

"I think you should invite him over to your house for a while too, just to get some more info out of him."

"It depends on if I can handle being 'nice' for that long."

"You didn't do too bad today."

"I'll wait and see. That and I doubt my parents would be thrilled to have one of the kittens over for anything."

"Then go walking with him after the movie. Who knows, maybe he'll invite you over to his house?"

"Maybe. So, when do the stitches come out?" he then teased, desperate for a subject change.

"Shut up!"

TBC

Sorry if it seems like I'm kinda rushing things…but I know if I don't get to the parts I want soon, I'll loose interest in this altogether and it'll go in my unfinished fic pile…

But other than maybe being a little rushed, how was it?