Rimnerel: Welcome to the next chapter of my wonderful story. I'm glad that it was received at a decent rate, and I hope that everyone likes the next chapter also. I'm being generous by giving you the next chapter so soon.
Tala: This is generous? Wow, that's just great.
Rimnerel: Stop being sarcastic, idiot and thank the people.
Tala: Rim would like to thank B.T, Britt, russle, and Flaming Saber for all their reviews and hope you also enjoy this chapter also.
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Rika and the other members of Selece, the team that was headed by the eccentric, but sometimes mysterious Hikaru Uesugi, sat in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at while in Russia for the now over World Beyblade Championships. Hikaru had allowed them to come in order to see first hand how impressive the competition would be when they went into the circuits the next year or so over. The tournament was impressive, they admitted that, but right now, a frown was set on each of their faces. Not too long ago, at the end of the tournaments, their captain felt sick and stayed behind while the rest were supposed to go back to the hotel.
Worried that she might not be able to make it alone, they sent their youngest member, Maseo Tsutomo back for her. He told the other two members he found her sneaking into the off limits area where the teams' locker rooms were. Maseo told the two about her strange behavior and the knowledge she understood Russian. Everything would be fine if she had returned with Maseo back to the hotel. But the older girl turned up missing, calling them from a phone somewhere stating that they should leave Russia as soon as humanly possible. That anyone that came looking for her, they had not seen her since the championships and didn't know where she could have gone by now.
"What do you think she's doing?" wondered Kira. "This is way too strange for my taste. I mean, why would she just disappear like that?"
"Yeah, it makes me wonder too. I mean...what happens now?" Rika stated. Her attention went back to the boy sitting across from her. "Maseo, did she way anything to you when you brought her things downstairs and to the front of the hotel."
"No," Maseo said, shaking his head. "She looked as if she was looking out for something, but other than that, she said to book it out of Russia on the next available plane we could catch. And that when we got to Japan, she would be at the usual place training."
The eleven-year-old boy looked down at his hands. His light blue eyes were worried about his team captain. Hikaru was like a big sister to him, and he was sure that the other two girls felt the same way about her also. Yet Maseo felt much closer to the girl than the other two. After all, she took him under her wing first, teaching him about all sorts of things. The look on her face that day was like another time in the past before they met up with Rika and Kira. At times, the girl would wake up covered in a fine coat of sweat, her eyes taking on a haunted look. Sometimes looking at her beyblade as if...well...in pain.
At times when he would wake up, he found her thrashing in her sleep, only to go limp the minute he touched her. Sometimes she moaned or pleaded softly in her sleep. Too soft for him to hear it sometimes, one time when he had been able to decipher her incoherent utterances, the only words he caught were forgive me. She repeated that over and over again until she fell into restless slumber. Could something here in Russia be the cause of it all?
On the way here, Maseo noticed how tense the girl got. At first he figured that it was due to the fact she didn't like to fly. Now, he knew better than to think that. He should know her better, even better than the other two...or so he figured. Coming right down to it, Maseo didn't know a thing about her past. Hikaru never opened up about her past, not even to him, who she's known for almost two years now. The only thing Maseo really knew was that she was an excellent blader.
She told him she learned from watching others, but he didn't think that was the case at all. When she practiced, she proved she was no amateur to the sport. Her passion for it was the most intense he ever saw. When she trained them, it was as if she had to make them the strongest possible. As if it was her life mission to make them unbeatable. Of course most teams wanted that, but she didn't play the sport for fun, blading seemed to be her life mission. Could part of the reason be here in Russia?
"Seo-chan?" Rika inquired.
"Nani?" Maseo looked at the fourteen year old girl with purple eyes. "What is it, Ri-kun?"
"I was wondering, what do you think triggered her like that?" Rika wondered. She admired Hikaru and looked up to the girl as a very valuable person in her life. She was sure that Kira felt the same way about the older teen also. If it weren't for Hikaru, they would have never been such great bladers in the first place. When Hikaru first approached them, both girls were picked on constantly by other kids, many times having their blades damaged to the point of being beyond repair, but within only three weeks, both girls could take on their opponents, winning all their matches.
Of course at times they complained about her methods being strict or unfair, but in the end, she always figured what was best for them. It was her strength that made Rika follow the girl without hesitation in her step. It must be pretty much the same for Kira also, who was always striving to beat the girl in one good beybattle.
"I don't know. It started back when we were by the Demolition Boys' locker room. They were being chewed out in Russian. Hikaru looked really shook by what the guy was yelling at the Demolition Boys, as if she was the one being yelled at or something," Maseo remarked.
"Does that mean...what does that mean?" Rika wondered.
"I don't know," Kira remarked, looking away from the others, watching a tall male with dark colored hair almost like Hikaru's walked up to the receptionist desk and say something to the woman there. The woman shook her head then pointed in the exact direction that Kira, Rika, and Maseo sat. "The hell..."
"What's the matter, Ki-kun?" Maseo inquired.
"I don't know, but I think the receptionist just pointed us out to that guy that's heading in our direction. Look normal, we don't know what's up," Kira stated, shifting her eyes back to the male that approached. He was a tall man, maybe about six foot or more. His hair was close to Hikaru's color; his gray eyes stared directly into her own eyes.
"Excuse me Miss," he said in polite Japanese. "I was just speaking with the receptionist and she told me that you might know a girl I'm looking for. Her name is Asuka."
"Asuka? I don't know anyone by that name. What about you two?" Kira said, looking at her teammates, both shaking their heads. "Sorry Mister, but I don't think we know the girl you're looking for."
"The receptionist said she saw a girl with you that matched Asuka's description perfectly. A girl of about sixteen now, with dark plum colored hair, and green eyes. I thought for sure that I found her after searching two years," the male sighed, looking down with mocked sorrow they did not catch.
"Mister, are you okay?" the girl with hot pink hair asked.
The male, Boris Balcov, director of the Russian abbey that the Demolition Boys came from, slowly lifted his head, hiding the devious glint in his eyes. "I'm fine, I just thought my search was over."
"If it would help, we know a girl named Hikaru that fits that description, that's probably who you saw. She was at the stadium earlier. We're her teammates; our beyblade team is called Selece. She's our team captain," the girl with raven hair said. "I'm Rika Fudachi, these are my friends Kira Mori and Maseo Tsutomo."
"So her name is Hikaru now?"
"Wasn't it always?" Kira stated.
A short smile rose to the male's face. "Her name is not Hikaru. She took that name from a young man she knew. Her real name is Asuka."
"No way. Then...that doesn't make sense. Why would she lie to us about what her name is?" Maseo inquired. Boris glanced over the boy, taking note of how attractive he was. In a way, he reminded the male of Hikaru, the boy that Asuka took her name from. It would be really interesting to know what would Asuka do if he managed to get his hands on the boy.
"It's true though," Boris stated.
"How can we believe you? I mean, for all we know, you could be lying to us about really knowing her and stuff. Who are you?" inquired the girl name Kira.
"My name is Boris Balcov. And the reason I seem to know so much about her is because that girl grew up under my care. She's my niece, and the boy she received her name from, Hikaru, is her older brother she left behind when she went back to Japan." Silence settled around them as everyone stared at the male.
"That's impossible!" Maseo stated.
"Has she ever told you about her family, I doubt it," Boris stated. "My niece was always like that. I was surprised when she disappeared almost two years ago. Her brother begged me to find her, which I have tried for the past two and a half years. His health is continuing to dwindle away."
"I don't believe you," Rika frowned. "What proof do we have that you're—" Her words stuck in her throat when the male pulled out a picture of a younger looking Hikaru with a male that looked exactly like her. Five other boys were in the picture also: a red head, a blond, a dual haired boy, a navy haired boy, and a lavender haired boy. They were all standing somewhere in Moscow smiling at the camera.
Boris discovered that those seven had managed to slip from the abbey for the day to have a little fun. When they got back, the evidence was the single picture they had managed to afford to remember the day forever. He doubted they would try a stunt like that again for the beating they received for it. He had kept the picture as a memento at crushing another one of their dreams of living a normal life.
"Asuka, her brother Hikaru, and her closest friends in the abbey," Boris remarked.
"Those look like...the Demolition Boys," Kira stated.
"Wait, aren't you trainer of the Demolition Boys?" Maseo said suddenly.
"Actually, I just raised them, they were trained by someone else, that person would be my niece," the male replied.
"She trained the..." Was that why she acted so strangely earlier?
"Yes, she trained them," Boris nodded. "They would also like to see her."
"Well...in honesty, we don't know where she is. She came and got her bags and left. Telling us that she was going back to Japan and come as soon as possible. I guess she wanted to get to training for the next tournament," Maseo said, leaving out the fact that she was scared out of her mind by being in Russia.
"How sad, I supposed that I will have to tell Hikaru that his younger sister has again deserted him," Boris sighed.
"What do you mean deserted him?" Maseo inquired.
Something wasn't right here at all. Wouldn't she have told him about living in Russia, about her brother, her friends, her uncle? She was tightlipped about her past, hardly telling them anything. But wouldn't it have seemed important that someone knew? If this man truly were her uncle, why would she run from him and her brother? Something about this man...Maseo's senses alerted him to something. He felt slightly uncomfortable sitting there, talking with the man, as if he...well, Maseo didn't know for sure, but he definitely didn't feel right.
"She left him and never came back. He was very upset about it and soon fell ill afterwards. He's very sensitive, especially after their parents died when they were only children. I am the only other one that is alive to take care of him. I suppose Asuka didn't want to be held back by him anymore," Boris remarked.
"That's a lie! She would never do something like that?" Maseo said angrily.
Boris looked at the boy directly, impressed by just how lovely the boy was. He had to be no more than ten or eleven, but he was still stunning. The long lashes that lowered over those large shimmering blue eyes. The short brown hair occasionally falling ever so teasingly into his eyes, how his lips beckoned to be kissed, to allow gasps to escape while lips traveled down his slender boyish figure. Boris wanted to know exactly what his eyes would look like full of fear. To hear him scream out in pain and to beg to be released from his torment.
"Then what would you say she did? Would you like to meet Hikaru and tell him that his sister didn't abandon him?" Boris inquired. "If you believe in her that much, please tell my nephew that."
"Maseo..." Kira remarked with concern. "Are you going to go?"
"Yes," he stated. "I want to meet her brother and tell him that she hasn't abandoned him. She isn't a bad person. She took me in two years ago after my parents abandoned me. I know what it feels like. I was alone and she told me that I could walk by her side until I felt I was ready for the world. She's taken care of me like a brother, like I'm sure she would her brother. If she never left, I don't know what would have happened to me. I want to tell him that he has nothing to worry about. When the time comes, she will come back."
"Seo..." Rika said. "We know that you believe in her, but..."
"You should believe in her too. I'm going. Get a hold of the number that she called from she might still be there. And tell her I'm with her uncle. Tell her that I will wait for her."
"You sure you want to go alone?" Kira replied.
"I'll be fine. I'll call you guys when I get there, okay." Maseo stood up from his chair, looking at the male, Hikaru...Asuka's, if that was really her name, uncle. "I'm ready, let's get going."
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{Flashback}
The night air was cold, slicing into the skin of the young man with dark plum colored hair and the girl with him. If anyone were to look at them, they would have thought the two were twins, but in fact, the girl by the name of Asuka was younger than the male named Hikaru by two years. She was almost 14 now, her brother now 16. The two huddled outside near the area they were made to train almost each day since getting to the abbey when they were six and eight. Their uncle, Boris Balcov, ran this place. A man they learned with time was the devil himself, or at least as much as he could be in their eyes.
"Hikaru," the girl sniffed, rubbing her cold hands together in hopes of conducting heat to warm herself. Her brother wrapped himself around her, his shivering cause her to become colder despite the body heat between them. It was slowly fading. "How much longer do we have to wait? I'm cold."
The young man looked down at her with his wide brown eyes. "I know you're cold, but we have to wait for the others to get here. Hang on a little bit longer, Asuka," Hikaru comforted his sister. The others were late he wondered if they had been caught.
"Hikaru, we're going to freeze to death, we have to go back and look for them," Asuka said. "I don't know if they lost their way or what."
"I agree. You stay here, I'm going to look for them," Hikaru got up from behind the bush they were huddled in.
"Hikaru! Don't leave me alone," Asuka said, clenching to the boy's thin shirt.
"Asuka, stay here, they may make it before I do," Hikaru stated. He handed the girl the train and plane tickets that he managed to buy sneaking into town. The plan was that he, Asuka, Tala, Bryan, Ian, and Spencer would escape out of Russia and get help for the other kids once they reached Japan. His uncle had to be stopped before he could hurt any more children. The group planned this out for almost a month now, and it was time for them to leave. But the four boys had yet to arrive. "Keep the money and tickets."
"But Hikaru." Tears welled up in her eyes, only to have her brother reach down, wiping them away. "What if you don't come back? I will never be able to do this on my own."
"You will be able to do it. You have to believe in yourself, Asuka. Mother and father will watch over us both, remember that," Hikaru assured. "I will come back to you, I promise." Asuka watched her brother leave his spot by her side. Asuka curled up into a ball, trying to stay warm while the cold Russian night stole what little heat was left from her.
'Hikaru, where are you?' She wondered as time ticked away. She couldn't leave him behind also. As she stood to go look for him, a light fell on her hiding spot. The girl froze in her tracks, watching her uncle walking up with Hikaru struggling. "Hikaru!"
"Well, so you two were planning an escape. You're forever disappointing me. First you decide to get in my way of what I want, then you try to take it away from me," Boris sneered.
"Where are the others?" Asuka shouted. "What have you done to them?"
"Nothing yet. I want the ringleaders that orchestrated this little plot. That would be you and Hikaru, Asuka. Now come here so I can deal with you correctly." Asuka backed away, seeing rope in his hands.
"Asuka, run dammit! Run and don't look back!" Hikaru said, tackling their uncle, trying to pin him to the ground.
"But what about you and the others?" Asuka cried. "I don't want to leave you behind!"
"You're going to have to," Hikaru said struggling. "I know you can do this! Now get going while I can spare you a few moments!" For a long second, Hikaru and Asuka's eyes met, knowing that this may be the last time they see each other. Asuka squeezed her eyes shut, turning and running as fast as her legs could carry her. Even when her lungs burned for oxygen, she continued to run until she was as far away from the abbey as possible. It was on then that she curled into a tight ball and cried.
Asuka jumped up from the chair she went to sleep in, turning around to find only Kai. She let out a sigh. "You scared me Kai."
"You're still here," was all he said, knowing she understood exactly what he meant.
"Hai. I could get a plane out tonight. I didn't want to risk going back to my hotel like that," Asuka said, staring down at her things.
"Come back to my room. It's not safe for you to be sleeping out here like that," Kai stated. Asuka took her seat back, Kai sitting beside her in another chair in the hotel lobby. He looked down at his hands, not really knowing what to say. The last time he had seen her after all, was when he was eleven.
"Kai, how are you doing?" Asuka inquired, looking at him. He was still the same boy she knew, always quiet, hesitant about things, probably opposite to what others thought about him. "After you escaped, what happened?"
"I...I was able to make it on my own for a while. I made a gang back in Japan. Trained, stuff like that. But then Grandfather found me and made me stay back in the mansion in Japan. I was all right for a while. Eventually I met up with the Bladebreakers."
"You don't have to talk about the other details, Kai. I understand." She had in fact met Voltaire on one of her uncle's business meetings. That man...she despised him the moment she laid eyes upon him. Just the knowledge he could hurt his grandson in such a manner that he cried in her arms for hours afterwards told her that she could expect no different from him, than she did of her uncle.
"Asuka, how did you escape?" Kai wanted to know, that maybe Hikaru made it out with her.
"Hikaru and I planned to the others out of the abbey. Go back to Japan and get some help for the others. But I don't know what happened...Uncle...he caught us. I was the only one that was able to escape back to Japan. I cut my hair short, and took on Hikaru's name and used our mother's maiden name. I hoped that Hikaru would be able to make it and find me," Asuka chuckled, the pain in her chest tightening.
"I thought you were dead. When I came back and went to the abbey...you weren't there, neither was Hikaru. I was afraid to ask, to find out you were both dead," Kai declared.
"I know Hikaru's dead, there's no way uncle would allow him to live. There was no way Hikaru would have wanted to live like that. That night when we parted, he looked at me, and I knew I would never see my brother again." A tear slipped down her face, before Kai caught it. He sympathized for her she put everything at risk for their sake, and did not ask for comfort no matter how much was thrown her way.
"Why did you return?" Kai inquired.
"My team, they wanted to see the tournament. I couldn't say no to them. I've grown so found of them. The youngest especially, his name is Maseo. His parents abandoned him when he was nine and I've taken care of him. In a way, I probably just replaced Hikaru with Maseo..."
"No one blames you, Asuka. I don't, and I know Tala and the others don't. They know that you have to do what you can," Kai tried to reassure her, but was sure he wasn't doing too good a job. "Tala cared about you like you really were his older sister. He could never hate you for leaving you will eventually find some way back to them. He believes that, I could see it in his eyes. In all of their eyes."
"Kai...thank you," Asuka smiled.
"It's the least I can do for all you've done for us," Kai said, a tiny smile in the corner of his lips. "You're like a sister to me too. I don't think I would ever want to hate you for everything you've done. You've laid your life down for us, that means a lot when you could have turned the other way."
"My conscious would have never been right after that," she admitted.
"Asuka...the team you made...were you planning to come back here eventually and stop Boris?"
"I put that team together with that purpose. Each one holds a bit beast that I managed to snag before leaving. Hikaru and I were going to train two other bladers to be strong. That plan backfired, and I ended up finding three people to wield the blades. They are do very well, at times complain, but I've grown use to them."
"I see."
Just then, Tyson came running up, stopping once he saw Kai sitting with the girl with plum hair. There was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on. "Hey! You!"
"Are you addressing me?" Asuka remarked. "The name is Asuka."
"I thought your name was Hikaru?" Tyson said confused.
"That's just a name I go by around my team. My real name is Asuka."
"Ah...well anyway, one of your teammates called us and asked were you still here. I think she said her name was Rika. But she wanted me to give you a message if we saw you. Since Kai seemed like he knew you, I was going to tell him an—"
"Get to the point," Asuka interrupted. Tyson showed a moment of indignation, but let it slip.
"The point is that she told us to tell you that Maseo was going to go with your uncle to meet your brother and he wanted you to come meet up with him if you were still around," Tyson responded. The last thing he expected was to see the older teen pale completely. She jumped up out of her chair, her eyes wide with fear.
"That idiot! If I've told him over and over again, it's for him not to go with anyone he doesn't know. How stupid could he be to ignore what I say?" Asuka stated.
"Asuka..." Kai remarked.
"No, I got this. Stay with your team, this is my teammate. There's no need for you to get involved with this," Asuka declared.
"What's the big deal with you two? He just went to see your brother. He's with your uncle and all," Tyson shrugged, not understanding why they got so riled up. He found seething green eyes upon his person, causing him to take a step back.
"You obviously don't know who my uncle is and what he's capable of. I doubt that my brother, Hikaru, is even still alive. My uncle would do anything to get me back. Kai, I'm going to get Maseo, I know that my uncle won't let me go so easily, so find Maseo and keep him from being led back there," Asuka ordered.
"But...what about you?" Kai answered.
"I'll take my chances there. If I've been able to do this for as long as I have, then there's no need to worry about what will happen to me. I made it out of there once I can do it again. Don't worry about me, okay." Asuka lifted Kai's face up, so she could see into those dark eyes that held so much fear. The smile on her face settled him little.
"Asuka..." he whispered, tears forming that only she saw.
"Everything will be fine, I promise. You know I never break my promises, Kai. Never. Now do as I say and find him." She got only a feeble nod, but it was enough to know that he would allow her to go back into the flames of hell without dragging others back with her. Turning from him, she headed out of the hotel, into the cold Russian night.
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Rimnerel: Am I evil or what? Yes, I suppose that I am.
Tala: There's never a time when you aren't evil.
Rimnerel: Hey! I resent that! There are times! I can't think of them right now, but I'm sure they exist. But anyway, I would like to thank everyone again. And remember, any pairings that you want to see for later, get them to me now so I can put them in later, or I won't do them cause I'm growing tired of making the pairings. So, until another time!