Emptiness
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
/../ Russian translation
---------- Scene Change
--flashback sequences--
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
----------
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
(("Where?" he started but stopped when he noticed a strand of black hair on his shoulder. Following the black lock of hair, his eyes settled on a peacefully sleeping Kazuki with her head on his chest. Noticing that there were a few wild strands of hair in Kazuki's face, Tala brushed them aside.))
(("I just saved your head from being split by crates, can't you at least show some gratitude?" Changer said with impatience and watched as Kai bent down to pick up his own Beyblade.
"I didn't ask you to do it," Kai replied skeptically, inspecting Dranzer.
Changer frowned at Kai's insolence and flipped to stand in his way. She had intended to shout at him for being rude, but looking at the worried expression on Kai's face as the boy inspected his scarf she sighed and said, "Here, I'll fix that for you,"))
(("You may have noticed by now that you are immune to most physical pain." Kazuki nodded absently. Boris smiled maliciously and shook his head a bit, "But I have a backup system that can infiltrate that safeguard."))
----------
Chapter Eighteen: Healing
With his scarf hanging in full length behind him, Kai entered the McGregor Mansion with a scowl. It hadn't taken Changer too long to fix his scarf, but he could sense her wince once in a while; probably pricked herself with the needle. Kai had left her without even a thank you. But he couldn't care less at the moment. What was on his mind was the most important thing of all right now: Anna. That name brought up waves of emotion that he had long since thrown away.
"Hey Kai!" Tyson smiled as he ran up to his former captain. He almost hugged him but Kai pushed him away with a hand.
"Get out of my way Tyson," Kai said menacingly and climbed up the stairs towards his shared bedroom hastily. Upstairs, he lay down on his bed and examined his scarf. Changer seemed to have done a good job in stitching the two pieces together, he'd give her that much. As he thought about it, he ran his hand over another line of stitches on his scarf that was almost invisible to the naked eye. The memory of the hands that had carefully sewn the fabric together about 8 winters ago cut through his mind like ice.
--Flashback--
A little boy sat on a rock by a frozen river, clutching a white scarf. The fabric had been torn by something sharp and the ends were slightly frayed.
"Are you okay little one?" a woman's voice asked as a hand was laid on Kai's shoulder.
Kai looked up at the woman with tear-filled eyes. "My scarf is torn," he said showing it to the woman hesitantly. It was his first time being treated gently by anyone that he could remember; the other children at the abbey had always been jealous of his blood tie with Voltaire, being his grandson, he was expected to be the best, but, at that time, he was weaker than most of the others.
"I'll help you fix it," the woman said kindly, taking Kai's small hand and leading him into the building. They walked for a few minutes before the woman steered him inside a small, comfortable room, lit by a fireplace.
"Here," she said giving him a small chair and some water.
Kai whispered a hushed, "Spaseeba /Thank you,/" in Russian. The water wasn't cold like his usual dosage of it; instead, it emitted a warm feel as it descended down his throat.
The woman turned to Kai and switched to Russian as well, "Kak vas zavoot? Meenya zavoot Anna Balkov. /What is your name? My name is Anna Balkov./"
"Kai," the little boy replied, "Kai Hiwatari," His voice was quiet, he knew that this must be Boris' wife. That man was the person he feared most, would his wife be just as harsh?
But Anna smiled warmly back at him and said, "Ya plokha gavaryoo pa rooskee, /My Russian is bad/"
Kai shook his head, relived at the kindness her voice carried. Anna laughed, before she took out a sewing kit from a drawer and started to sew Kai's scarf back together. While she worked, she hummed a melody. Kai slowly fell asleep as he listened to the sweet notes.
"Kai?"
"Huh?" Kai said rubbing his eyes as he realized he had dosed off.
"I'm done," she smiled as she handed the silky white scarf back to Kai.
"Bal'shoye spaseeba /Thank you very much/ Mrs. Balkov," Kai said in Russian as he hugged his favorite scarf; it had been the only thing he had received from his grandfather that was close enough to a gift. Voltaire had told him that it had once belonged to his father.
"Pazhalooysta /You're welcome,/" the woman laughed as she said back in Russian and patted his head gently.
"Dah /Okay,/" Kai said, "Anna,"
--End Flashbackâ
----------
Four figures treaded across the snow-packed ground towards the river. Tala leads the procession, still thinking about the events of last night. It was a wonder how Kazuki could suddenly change from such a cold person to the smiling girl he had seen just hours ago.
"Tala," Bryan whispered, interrupting his thoughts, stopping Tala with a hand on his shoulder.
"What?" Tala growled as he turned around.
Bryan looked back at him with a frown and said, "We shouldn't interrupt what's going on ahead," He pointed to something behind Tala and the red- haired boy turned to look. Following the finger, Tala's gaze shifted over to land upon three figures standing beside the river.
Kazuki could be seen kneeling on the ground with Boris standing beside her. Even though they were a few meters away, Tala could see that the girl was shaking violently. The cause was evident as Tala's gaze drew over to a device in Boris' hands. He almost wanted to go over and stop it, but bit down on the idea and stayed where he was. Boris then exchanged a few words with Kazuki and turned to leave. But he stopped as he spotted the boys staring at him. Tala immediately dropped his gaze and bowed slightly, knowing that the other three behind him repeated his act. Boris nodded stiffly and walked off.
Tala lifted his gaze only after Boris had left and returned to look for Kazuki. He frowned seeing the girl stubbornly trying to kneel, but his expressions softened as he saw her look up and fall over.
"What was that thing Boris was holding?" Tala wondered, as he slowly walked over to Kazuki's side.
"She looks badly hurt," Ian, observed, "What do you think Boris did to her?"
"How would I know," Tala growled as he lifted the girl up into his arms, "Let's take her back to her room first. It was the one next to ours right?" They had passed by earlier as the abbey workers moving Kazuki's stuff into her new room. Ian and Spencer nodded and started to walk towards the building with Tala, but Bryan blocked Tala's way with a frown.
"No," he refused, "Boris will know that we brought her back if we take her there. He is bound to have security cameras in there,"
"Bryan has a point," Spencer said, "I don't think Boris will be pleased to see us interfere,"
"Then we'll bring her into our room," Tala replied finally, pushing past Bryan, whose frown grew, but kept silent.
"Tala sure seems to care about that girl," Ian observed as they followed behind.
"He's also been acting abnormal since our second meeting," Spencer added.
Bryan didn't feel like adding to the conversation, but he thought silently, "Tala's program's starting to fall apart,"
----------
Johnny knocked on Jackie's bedroom door.
"Yo sis," he called, "open up."
Silence.
"Jackie?" Johnny tried again. He was starting to get worried that his sister is not inside. And if she weren't, the others would get suspicious.
There was another long silence as Johnny became uneasier.
"Do you think she is in trouble?" Robert asked with concern as he stepped forward to push open the door.
"No," Johnny said firmly and tried to stop Robert from opening the door.
The wooden frame suddenly opened by itself, startling Robert and Johnny for a second.
Oliver, Enrique stared at the panting Jackie as she stood in the doorway.
"H-hi," she managed to say while trying to catch her breath.
Enrique looked at her as Jackie tried to regain her breath and asked, "What were you doing?"
"Um..I was exercising in my room! Yeah, in my room," Jackie replied giving him an innocent smile.
"Exercising in your room?" Oliver asked with disbelief, "What do you have? A gym in there?" The boy started to move towards the door to look inside the room.
"I.." Jackie started as she held her arm out to block Oliver.
"She means her room connects to our personal gym downstairs," Johnny interrupted and pulled Oliver back gently.
"Yeah, what he said,"
Doubt was evident on every one of the Majestics' faces, but they didn't ask further.
"Ahem," Johnny cleared his throat, "Back to what we came here for?"
"Oh, yes," Robert said as he snapped back to reality from considering having his own room connect with a personal gym.
"We're going to throw a ball for your birthday," Enrique explained.
Now that she had regained her breath, Jackie looked up at once, "Throw a ball?"
"Yeah, and watch as it bounces on the ground," Johnny said sarcastically. Enrique snickered.
"Quit joking!" Jackie snapped at her brother, "I just didn't expect to have a ball that's all,"
"Sure," Johnny said rolling his eyes as he smirked, "Now, can we discuss this downstairs, where we can actually sit?"
Sticking her tongue out at Johnny, Jackie crossed her arms and slowly stepped out of her room, quickly closing her door behind her. Then, while the others weren't watching, she slipped on a pair of gloves over her fingers, wincing as the fabric brushed against her skin.
"Stupid Kai," she thought as she followed closely after the other boys.
--To be continued
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
/../ Russian translation
---------- Scene Change
--flashback sequences--
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
----------
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
(("Where?" he started but stopped when he noticed a strand of black hair on his shoulder. Following the black lock of hair, his eyes settled on a peacefully sleeping Kazuki with her head on his chest. Noticing that there were a few wild strands of hair in Kazuki's face, Tala brushed them aside.))
(("I just saved your head from being split by crates, can't you at least show some gratitude?" Changer said with impatience and watched as Kai bent down to pick up his own Beyblade.
"I didn't ask you to do it," Kai replied skeptically, inspecting Dranzer.
Changer frowned at Kai's insolence and flipped to stand in his way. She had intended to shout at him for being rude, but looking at the worried expression on Kai's face as the boy inspected his scarf she sighed and said, "Here, I'll fix that for you,"))
(("You may have noticed by now that you are immune to most physical pain." Kazuki nodded absently. Boris smiled maliciously and shook his head a bit, "But I have a backup system that can infiltrate that safeguard."))
----------
Chapter Eighteen: Healing
With his scarf hanging in full length behind him, Kai entered the McGregor Mansion with a scowl. It hadn't taken Changer too long to fix his scarf, but he could sense her wince once in a while; probably pricked herself with the needle. Kai had left her without even a thank you. But he couldn't care less at the moment. What was on his mind was the most important thing of all right now: Anna. That name brought up waves of emotion that he had long since thrown away.
"Hey Kai!" Tyson smiled as he ran up to his former captain. He almost hugged him but Kai pushed him away with a hand.
"Get out of my way Tyson," Kai said menacingly and climbed up the stairs towards his shared bedroom hastily. Upstairs, he lay down on his bed and examined his scarf. Changer seemed to have done a good job in stitching the two pieces together, he'd give her that much. As he thought about it, he ran his hand over another line of stitches on his scarf that was almost invisible to the naked eye. The memory of the hands that had carefully sewn the fabric together about 8 winters ago cut through his mind like ice.
--Flashback--
A little boy sat on a rock by a frozen river, clutching a white scarf. The fabric had been torn by something sharp and the ends were slightly frayed.
"Are you okay little one?" a woman's voice asked as a hand was laid on Kai's shoulder.
Kai looked up at the woman with tear-filled eyes. "My scarf is torn," he said showing it to the woman hesitantly. It was his first time being treated gently by anyone that he could remember; the other children at the abbey had always been jealous of his blood tie with Voltaire, being his grandson, he was expected to be the best, but, at that time, he was weaker than most of the others.
"I'll help you fix it," the woman said kindly, taking Kai's small hand and leading him into the building. They walked for a few minutes before the woman steered him inside a small, comfortable room, lit by a fireplace.
"Here," she said giving him a small chair and some water.
Kai whispered a hushed, "Spaseeba /Thank you,/" in Russian. The water wasn't cold like his usual dosage of it; instead, it emitted a warm feel as it descended down his throat.
The woman turned to Kai and switched to Russian as well, "Kak vas zavoot? Meenya zavoot Anna Balkov. /What is your name? My name is Anna Balkov./"
"Kai," the little boy replied, "Kai Hiwatari," His voice was quiet, he knew that this must be Boris' wife. That man was the person he feared most, would his wife be just as harsh?
But Anna smiled warmly back at him and said, "Ya plokha gavaryoo pa rooskee, /My Russian is bad/"
Kai shook his head, relived at the kindness her voice carried. Anna laughed, before she took out a sewing kit from a drawer and started to sew Kai's scarf back together. While she worked, she hummed a melody. Kai slowly fell asleep as he listened to the sweet notes.
"Kai?"
"Huh?" Kai said rubbing his eyes as he realized he had dosed off.
"I'm done," she smiled as she handed the silky white scarf back to Kai.
"Bal'shoye spaseeba /Thank you very much/ Mrs. Balkov," Kai said in Russian as he hugged his favorite scarf; it had been the only thing he had received from his grandfather that was close enough to a gift. Voltaire had told him that it had once belonged to his father.
"Pazhalooysta /You're welcome,/" the woman laughed as she said back in Russian and patted his head gently.
"Dah /Okay,/" Kai said, "Anna,"
--End Flashbackâ
----------
Four figures treaded across the snow-packed ground towards the river. Tala leads the procession, still thinking about the events of last night. It was a wonder how Kazuki could suddenly change from such a cold person to the smiling girl he had seen just hours ago.
"Tala," Bryan whispered, interrupting his thoughts, stopping Tala with a hand on his shoulder.
"What?" Tala growled as he turned around.
Bryan looked back at him with a frown and said, "We shouldn't interrupt what's going on ahead," He pointed to something behind Tala and the red- haired boy turned to look. Following the finger, Tala's gaze shifted over to land upon three figures standing beside the river.
Kazuki could be seen kneeling on the ground with Boris standing beside her. Even though they were a few meters away, Tala could see that the girl was shaking violently. The cause was evident as Tala's gaze drew over to a device in Boris' hands. He almost wanted to go over and stop it, but bit down on the idea and stayed where he was. Boris then exchanged a few words with Kazuki and turned to leave. But he stopped as he spotted the boys staring at him. Tala immediately dropped his gaze and bowed slightly, knowing that the other three behind him repeated his act. Boris nodded stiffly and walked off.
Tala lifted his gaze only after Boris had left and returned to look for Kazuki. He frowned seeing the girl stubbornly trying to kneel, but his expressions softened as he saw her look up and fall over.
"What was that thing Boris was holding?" Tala wondered, as he slowly walked over to Kazuki's side.
"She looks badly hurt," Ian, observed, "What do you think Boris did to her?"
"How would I know," Tala growled as he lifted the girl up into his arms, "Let's take her back to her room first. It was the one next to ours right?" They had passed by earlier as the abbey workers moving Kazuki's stuff into her new room. Ian and Spencer nodded and started to walk towards the building with Tala, but Bryan blocked Tala's way with a frown.
"No," he refused, "Boris will know that we brought her back if we take her there. He is bound to have security cameras in there,"
"Bryan has a point," Spencer said, "I don't think Boris will be pleased to see us interfere,"
"Then we'll bring her into our room," Tala replied finally, pushing past Bryan, whose frown grew, but kept silent.
"Tala sure seems to care about that girl," Ian observed as they followed behind.
"He's also been acting abnormal since our second meeting," Spencer added.
Bryan didn't feel like adding to the conversation, but he thought silently, "Tala's program's starting to fall apart,"
----------
Johnny knocked on Jackie's bedroom door.
"Yo sis," he called, "open up."
Silence.
"Jackie?" Johnny tried again. He was starting to get worried that his sister is not inside. And if she weren't, the others would get suspicious.
There was another long silence as Johnny became uneasier.
"Do you think she is in trouble?" Robert asked with concern as he stepped forward to push open the door.
"No," Johnny said firmly and tried to stop Robert from opening the door.
The wooden frame suddenly opened by itself, startling Robert and Johnny for a second.
Oliver, Enrique stared at the panting Jackie as she stood in the doorway.
"H-hi," she managed to say while trying to catch her breath.
Enrique looked at her as Jackie tried to regain her breath and asked, "What were you doing?"
"Um..I was exercising in my room! Yeah, in my room," Jackie replied giving him an innocent smile.
"Exercising in your room?" Oliver asked with disbelief, "What do you have? A gym in there?" The boy started to move towards the door to look inside the room.
"I.." Jackie started as she held her arm out to block Oliver.
"She means her room connects to our personal gym downstairs," Johnny interrupted and pulled Oliver back gently.
"Yeah, what he said,"
Doubt was evident on every one of the Majestics' faces, but they didn't ask further.
"Ahem," Johnny cleared his throat, "Back to what we came here for?"
"Oh, yes," Robert said as he snapped back to reality from considering having his own room connect with a personal gym.
"We're going to throw a ball for your birthday," Enrique explained.
Now that she had regained her breath, Jackie looked up at once, "Throw a ball?"
"Yeah, and watch as it bounces on the ground," Johnny said sarcastically. Enrique snickered.
"Quit joking!" Jackie snapped at her brother, "I just didn't expect to have a ball that's all,"
"Sure," Johnny said rolling his eyes as he smirked, "Now, can we discuss this downstairs, where we can actually sit?"
Sticking her tongue out at Johnny, Jackie crossed her arms and slowly stepped out of her room, quickly closing her door behind her. Then, while the others weren't watching, she slipped on a pair of gloves over her fingers, wincing as the fabric brushed against her skin.
"Stupid Kai," she thought as she followed closely after the other boys.
--To be continued