Zombie: Phew...this is a welcome break from coursework…

Johnny: …You haven't finished your work yet…

Zombie: shut up!

Johnny: Zombie doesn't own Beyblade, or any of the characters in this fic besides Hannah, Toshi and Dai. Ghost belongs to herself.

Zombie: Do we have to do this all the time?

Johnny: …only every once in a while…

Zombie: Enjoy the fic folks!


Some time had passed by the time Ghost stood up in the living room of the apartment. She stretched a hand out to the slate haired teen still laid casually on the think carpet. He grabbed her hand and hauled himself to his feet. Both just stood there looking at each other, both in the same situation.

Tousled hair, bruised lips, crumpled clothing. Ghost raked a hand through her mussed white and green locks, trying to tame them and flatten them back to her head, straightening her clothing. He lifted her head to catch Kai looking at her, a smirk on his features.

"What are you looking at, Nemo?"

"You" Stupid answer. "And why have we gone back to the name calling?" He turned the imploring grey eyes on her.

"Hey" She said, "Don't think anything's different now" She stooped and picked up one of the forgotten backpacks from where it had been dropped earlier, and slung one strap over her shoulder.

"Wouldn't dream of it" Kai said simply with a smile. "We should be getting back; the others will start to wonder what's happened to us"

Ghost grinned back at him, "Lord forbid they ever work that one out"

"True" Kai said, "Shall we?" He gestured towards the doorway, swinging the other pack onto her back.

"Yes" And they both walked out through the door, Ghost was glad to see the back of it.


"No Johnny! You are not to draw on her!" Rei's usually calm voice rang out through the room as he tried to wrestle the pens from the Scottish boy's fingers.

"Come on! It would be a perfect 'Kodak Moment'!" The red head whined.

"No!" Rei grabbed at the felt tips in the taller boy's hand again.

"Aw, you're no fun!" The red head complained as the other boy managed to snatch the coloring pens away from him, Rei only stuck his tongue out at him in response.

"Grow up, you two!" Daichi's voice split through the air. The small red haired boy was sat back on one of the sofas, his knees drawn up to his chest and a scowl permanently fixed on his face.

Both Johnny and Rei stopped their bickering instantly and stared gob smacked at the young boy before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Hey!" If possible, the boy's frown deepened. "What's so funny? Huh!" He demanded.

"Oh the irony!" Rei managed to gasp out. He clutched his stomach as he laughed.

"Being told to grow up by a child! That's gotta be a first for us!" Johnny said in between the laughter.

"I'm not a child!" Daichi near yelled. "I'm thirteen years old! I'm not a child!"

"Right, of course" Rei nodded sincerely, agreeing with the boy.

"Mou…what's all the noise?" A quiet voice behind him made Daichi spin on his heel to face the previously sleeping girl on the sofa. She still had her eyes closed.

Hannah lifted her good hand to her face and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She fluttered her eyelids open and blinked a few times to clear her vision.

The large brown eyes looked at Daichi imploringly. Daichi didn't answer her, but just turned his back on her, refusing to interact.

"Sorry if we woke you Hannah" Rei said apologetically, smiling at the small girl.

Hannah smiled back at the black haired boy, "Where's Ghostie?" She said quietly after glancing around the room and noting the absence of the white haired girl.

"She and Kai went back to your place to grab some stuff" Johnny filled in.

"Speaking of which" Rei started, a slightly concerned look apparent in the golden slitted eyes. "They've been gone a while now"

"Naw" Johnny shrugged and dropped down onto the sofa next the dark haired girl, "They'll be ok, and we've seen 'em both fight and I think we can safely say that they know how to look after themselves."

"I guess you're right" Rei's worried expression was swiftly replaced with a bright smile. "Anyone hungry?"

Hannah just smiled and shook her head, looking down at her hands which were resting in her lap.

"Are you sure? I haven't seen you eat anything since we brought you in after 'the bank episode' yesterday…" Rei asked her, beginning to look worried again.

Again she just shook her head. "I'm fine…"

"Well, if you're sure…" Rei turned away and walked quickly into the kitchen section of the room, raving through the cupboards.

Johnny laughed and pushed himself off the sofa, walking to stand at the sideboard dividing the 'kitchen' from the rest of the room. He leant on it and watch the Chinese teen as he searched for something edible.

"Ugh!" Rei exclaimed, pulling several jars out of a cupboard and setting them down on the sideboard next to the other teen. "Half of this stuff is out of date! How long has it been since someone cleared the old food out?" He unscrewed the lid off one of the jars and wrinkled his nose at the overpowering smell. It was so strong it almost brought tears to his eyes, he held the jar away from him and quickly screwed the lid back on tight. "Are they trying to poison us!"

"And they call me a mother hen" Johnny muttered under his breath and chuckled at the expression on his golden eyed friend's face.

"I heard that" Rei pursed his lips and glared at the other teen in mock anger.

Leaving the two boys to argue things out between them, Hannah slowly and carefully pushed herself up from the sofa, and ambled slowly through the door on the other side of room, following the path the red haired boy had taken.

She peered through the doorway, sweeping her gaze through the room until it came to rest on the small green eyed boy sat on the windowsill, gazing out of it into the world outside.

He didn't even notice her as she made her way silently towards him, and sat down on the other end of the windowsill. She watched him for a moment, following his gaze out of the window.

"What do you want?" He said suddenly, not averting his gaze from outside.

"Just...to talk" The girl replied simply, waiting for him to respond.

"I have nothing to talk to you about, vampire" He said the last word with such contempt that a tiny shiver ran up Hannah's spine.

"Why do you hate me so much, Daichi?" She tried to start a conversation again, she was determined to get through to the distant child.

"You kill people just to extend you own life, you're a murderer" Daichi replied coldly, still not looking at her.

"But it's more than that, isn't it Daichi?" Hannah said softly, ever since she had first met the boy, it was plain to see the pain in his eyes. He hated all vampires with a passion, past torment and torture. For one so young, he had seen so much he would rather not have seen.

Finally he tore his gaze away from the window, and turned those tortured green eyes on her. After a moment, even Hannah found herself unable to hold his gaze and averted her eyes. Daichi just turned back to window.

More time passed and the two sat in silence, just staring out of the window at nothing in particular.

Daichi's voice surprised her when he spoke again. "My mother was killed by vampires" He said quietly, "When I was nine"

This would explain the hatred he held against her and Ghost.

"I saw it all, I watched her die…that's why I despise vampires" He spoke again, his voice so quiet any creature with human hearing wouldn't have heard it. But Hannah's enhanced hearing picked up every word.

"I tried to live off the streets" He said, "But where could I get money?" He gave a small snort of laughter, "No one was going to employ a kid! But…Kai found me, and offered me a place here, told me the job. He said he knew what I had gone through. I jumped at the chance!"

Hannah listened to him silently, her eyes watching his face, reading each emotion like a book. A small glisten on his cheek caught her attention, a tear.

Slowly, she reached out towards his face. At first he jerked back, away from her hand. But then he realized that she wouldn't hurt him, and watched her warily as she brushed the tiny droplet from his face. She held it in the palm of her hand, his green eyes watched in amazement as the tear crystallized on her skin, becoming solid and sparkling.

She dropped the small fragment into his own hand, withdrawing back to the other side of the windowsill.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, awe apparent in his voice as he turned the object over in his hand, peering at the tiny tear.

"It's your tear" She said simply, "It'll keep away your nightmares"

His head snapped up and looked at her with wide green eyes, "How did you…"

She pushed herself off the window ledge, gritting her teeth as the slight movement stretched the tender flesh under the bandages. "I just know" She moved away from the younger boy, making her way back towards the door.

"Hey Hannah?" The first time he'd ever called her by her name.

"Hm?" She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

He scratched the back of his head, a small sheepish looking smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Uh…thanks" He said quickly, "I guess you aren't as bad as I made you out to be"

The dark haired girl just smiled and disappeared through the door, leaving the red haired boy to his own thoughts and cradling the small fragment to his chest.


"Wow" Ghost's voice said as she stepped outside of the apartment building, "It sure got dark quick" She tipped her head upwards to look at the bright pinpricks scattered across the dark sky.

"Yeah." Kai agreed, shifting the straps of the bag to rest more comfortably against his shoulders. "We should hurry"

Ghost nodded, her white bangs falling forwards into her eyes. She swept them back away from her face, setting off after the slate haired teen, keeping a brisk pace. She was almost jogging to keep up with Kai's long strides.

They quickly made their way through the winding streets of the city; the streetlamps flickering on as the sky grew darker and darker, washing the city in a dim orange glow.

She was too busy looking at her surroundings to notice that Kai had stopped, and she walked straight into his back. "Ugh" She said at the point of impact and stepped backwards. "Sorry…"

Wordlessly, Kai grabbed her hand and ran down the street, pulling the smaller teen behind him. He took a sharp left, yanking the girl behind him down a small side street and placing his hand over her mouth. Silencing her.

Ghost's green eyes looked at him imploringly as she reached up and yanked his hand away from her mouth. 'What's wrong?' she mouthed at him.

'I don't know…just stay still' he replied. He still had hold of her hand, she idly wondered if he had realized that yet…

Both of them stood still, in the shadow of the side street away from the dimming lights of the streetlamps. Ghost opened her mouth to say something but snapped it shut again as something rushed past the entrance of the side street, not even noticing the two teens.

Before she could even release her breath, she felt Kai's grip tighten around her hand as he ran around the corner and took off down the street, heading towards the nearest manhole. Ghost's feet barely touched the floor as they flew down the darkened streets.

Finally spotting what he was looking for, Kai let go of her hand and crouched down to the floor, wrenching the thick metal slab from its place in the road, opening the entrance into the dark dank sewers. Gesturing for Ghost to get in, she moved quickly and jumped down into the underground, Kai close behind her.

She heard the scraping sound of the cover being dragged back into place and the light from the streets was blocked out, plunging the tunnel into pure darkness.


Zombie: Phew…that's over…

Johnny: Until next time

Zombie: Stop contradicting me!

Johnny: heh heh….

Zombie: Review please!