Unneeded Distractions
Warning: shonen ai,
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or its' characters.
How long had it been? A month? A year? Kai laughed mirthlessly. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had been a decade. It was all the same to him.
Reminiscing is for the weak
He found himself thinking about them often now. Remembering the way Tyson used to constantly stuff his face, the way Max would bounce off of the walls at the mere mention of sugar, the way Kenny typed incessantly on his keyboard. It was odd that even the most annoying things he could associate with his former teammates only made him mess them more.
It had gotten to the point where he welcomed memories of the 3 younger boys though, no matter how painful it was to think of them. After all, it hurt 100 times more to remember the other teammate he'd left behind. Anything to distract him from Rei. Anything.
Love is for the weak.
But 'anything' didn't work. Anything and everything brought memories of the Chinese 'blader. All that he could think about day and night was the way the sunlight had glinted off of the midnight hair, the way the golden eyes had sparkled merrily, and the soft laughter that had warmed his heart whenever it had graced the world with its' music.
...The weak...
Why had he left again?
I WILL NOT BE WEAK!!
With a snarl, Kai stormed out of his new dwelling and marched over to his regular training area, crushing the delicate green grass beneath his feet. He didn't need them. They were an obstacle; a wall blocking his path towards the ultimate perfection. They'd been in his way long enough. Now he could really begin to train. He would reach his goal. He would become the most powerful Beyblader in the world. He would defeat Tyson and make that fool regret ever messing with him! To have such power is to be strong. Strength was is the opposite of weakness.
I will not be weak. Weakness is bad.
Then again, the separation wasn't helping his 'blading skills. He practiced day and night, but no matter what he did, he couldn't control Dranzer. He knew why, of course. He made a point of discovering every weakness he had and eliminating it. Well, he discovered them anyway; the eliminating part tended to be a bit more challenging.
In this case, Kai's problem was his lack of concentration. He was constantly being distracted by the unbidden thoughts rising up in his mind, until they surrounded his entire being, taking him over. All of these thoughts centered on the Bladebreakers.
Affection is a weakness
He remembered when he'd left. He'd just awoken from an odd dream. He'd been having a lot of questionable dreams, even then. He'd tried to ignore them, and, to a certain point, had managed to, but this one had been...different. Stranger. Realer. More powerful.
Kai shuddered slightly. Dreams shouldn't have that kind of power. He'd thought that he'd just been imagining the butterflies in his stomach, and the warmth in his heart, but that dream, and his reaction to hit, had proven him wrong. So Kai left. Disappeared. Vanished. It hadn't helped. The dreams had only gotten worse.
He dreamed about smiles, and laughter, and sharing, and happiness. He dreamed about kindness, and affection, and friendship, and love. He dreamed about Kenny, and Tyson, and Max, and---
Weak! I'm turning weak just like them!
He felt himself fall to his knees, Dranzer in hand, felt the soft breeze run its' cool fingers though his two-toned hair, felt the inquiring eyes of nearby people, but it was as if it was happening to another person.
To kneel is to be weak. I am not weak, so I am not kneeling. That person on the ground looks exactly like me, but I'm not him. He is weak. I am not
His eyes slid closed, and immediately, as though some sadistic deity. Felt the urge to thrust into his face images of exactly what he'd given up, Kai saw them yet again. Max's huge blue eyes, Tyson's annoying grin, Kenny's face-encompassing bangs, and Rei's tail-like hair.
Unshed tears burned in his eyes, but he stubbornly held them back.
Tears are weak. I am not weak. I do not cry.
"Mister? Mister, are you alright?"
Kai looked up, surprised, and saw standing beside him a girl, barley 5 years old, who gave him smile worthy of Max on sugar high. She was missing one of her front teeth.
"Wanna know what cheers me up when I'm sad, Mister?"
Kai nodded uncertainly, his already trashed thought-process destroyed by having been brought out of his dark musings.
"Candy!" the child exclaimed, as though unveiling the deepest secret in her heart. "Here, you take this! It'll make you feel better, I promise!" She thrust a small, neatly wrapped chocolate into his unresisting hand and, with a last smile, ran off to play with her friends.
Kai smiled involuntarily as he looked at the sweet in his fist.
Unhealthy, unrequired---
Slowly and carefully he unwrapped the candy.
---pathetic, stupid---
On the inside of the foil there were words written in tiny lettering.
---weak, weak, WEAK---
---
Tyson paused in his playful argument with Max to glance at Rei. The Chinese boy was reading, but when he felt Tyson's eyes on him, he gave the other boy a quick smile before returning to his book.
It was a fake smile. All of his smiles were fake now.
For the billionth time, Tyson cursed Kai for abandoning them. For leaving thing, betraying them. So what if they were no longer entering Beyblade tournaments, they were still a team! Teams stick together!
Rei was broken inside. At first it had been hard to see, but gradually it became more and more obvious, as Rei slowly lost the willpower to hide his pain.
WHY HAD KAI LEFT?! Tyson had thought that they were finally getting through to him, finally making him understand that having friends wasn't a bad thing!
The worst part about Kai's disappearance, for Tyson, wasn't even watching Rei's suffering. It was being unable to hate Kai for it! No matter what Kai had done, he was still like an older brother to Tyson, and that made the Japanese boy mad. Why couldn't he hate him?!
"Tyson? Hello-o? Anybody home in there?"
"Huh?! Oh, Max. Sorry, haha, I was just thinking...." Max gave Tyson a mock-shocked look. "Really?! Don't hurt yourself!" Easily dodging the light punch Tyson threw his way, he continued, grinning even more at Tyson's enraged expression. "Anyways, we're all going to the park (1), are you coming?"
Tyson immediately brightened up. "Sure!"
----
Kai stared. He hadn't expected this to happen. OK, so maybe he'd secretly hoped that it would happen, but he hadn't expected it.
Dammit. What was he going to do?! He hadn't planned this far ahead!
Luckily, a reaction wasn't immediately required, as the one in front of him seemed to be frozen in shock as well.
"Kai! I-I'd never expected...This is quite a surprise." It was Kenny. His voice was a mixture of shock, uncertainty, and politeness. No pleasure. Of course not. Why would Kenny be pleased to see him? Why would anyone be pleased to see him? It wasn't as if he'd ever been nice to them. It wasn't as if they'd missed him. He shouldn't have come.
As he turned to walk away, however, Kenny exclaimed, "Wait! Kai, don't go!" Now panic was making itself known.
...Panic? Huh?
Kai faced the smaller boy, letting his confusion show. "Please!" Kenny begged, "Don't go! You have no idea---Rei's been falling apart---Max and Tyson---we all miss you!"
Kai closed his eyes. The small moment of doubt he'd had at seeing Kenny had woken up the voice that had lain in rest since he'd met that little girl. He hated the voice. It had made him leave after he'd had the dream.
He's lying, trying to make you become weak, trying to---
But then Kai looked past Kenny, who was still pleading with him, and he saw Perfection. It was leaning against a tree, its' golden eyes following the movements of two younger boys, and was wearing an almost sad smile on its lips. It was Rei.
As though sensing his gaze, the Chinese boys' eyes met his own, and widened with shock. Kenny had finally ceased talked, and was watching Kai with a mixture of hope and worry.
Kai turned to Kenny, abruptly breaking eye contact with his personal perfection. "We have a lot to talk about," he said, his voice almost soft. Kenny nodded, relieved that Kai wasn't about to disappear again...yet.
----
Kai and Rei.
It was just the two of them now, sitting on Rei's bed, staring at each other. Just them.
"Why did you leave?"
"I was being distracted from my pursuit of perfection."
"Then why did you come back?"
"I got rid of the distraction."
"So now you'll try to find perfection again?"
"No. I've already found it."
"Where?"
"You."
----FLASHBACK----
'Follow your heart always.'
Kai felt the small smile on his lips grow larger as he read the advice decorated the silvery foil. There were no doubt millions of little chocolates all over the world with exactly the same words written on them. A marketing scam really. The whole thing was practically shouting, "Buy another package, I have more great advice just waiting to be revealed!"
It was just a coincidence that the words stated the exact action that he needed to do.
---END
(1)-If you've read my other fic, Wild Wonderings, you'll know that if anything's going to happen in one of my fics, it'll happen in the park. So I have no imagination, sue me
(A/N: ...I can't believe I wrote that. It's just...well, cheesy. Humiliatingly cheesy, actually. I can't believe I posted that. Rather badly written too...((sweatdrop))
Erm, feel free to flame!! I hope that you liked it around all of the...dumbness.)