Journeys

Disclaimer: Don't own the Beyblade characters. Rest of them are mine.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

Oh my word! I went into my fic and saw that all my dividers were gone! No wonder people were confused. Sorry, Sorry x infinity! Well we're on Chapter 18, it's not much longer till the end, at the most it's another chapter after this. I just wanna say thank you for reading this and for bearing with my ramblings, and supporting...and...I think I'm gonna cry...well on with the Fic! sniff.

Kai lead his friends on. The others were quite far behind, he didn't care though, he needed to find Ray, and soon. He had felt a wave of warmth go through him after he had said he wouldn't let anyone hurt Ray. That meant his tiger had heard him. ' Tiger! Well he is one, just cuter.'

Kai shook his head and carried on running, following his unkown guide. He didn't know why but he felt his guide didn't even know he was leading Kai, also Kai had a strange feeling the other wasn't real, or atleast not of this world. But he followed anyway, something told him he would ind Ray when his guide had found what they were looking for. He just hoped they wouldn't be late.

As if hearing his thoughts his guide appeared again, leading him away from the path and into the forest. Kai almost stopped when he got a proper look at his guide, it was a child. A little child that looked familiar. A name came to his mind.'Ray.' The little child had a disturbingly obvious resemblance to his tiger. Kai watched as the child moved towards a tree, it was a young tree maybe four years old or so. it wasn't as tall as Kai, but it was definetly as tall, and taller, than the boy.

Kai was about to call a warning to the child as he walked straight at the tree, any noise died on his lips as he watched the boy walk straight through the tree. 'I was right, he isn't real, but then what is he?' Kai couldn't dwell on that thought as a noise drew his attention to a clump of trees. A feeling of unease seeped through him, chilling him to his core. Ray was there, and danger was close. He crept to a bush nearby and carefully looked into the clearing. He saw they were back in the large clearing, the one by the glade Jaco had told them about, sure enough the old oak loomed over all. Kai shook his head slightly to pull himself out of the awe inspired daze. He turned his attention to the movement in the middle ofthe clearing, close to the smooth rock. He was sure he had been caught in the divider of heaven and hell when he saw the sight that lay before him, it reminded him of a picture he saw, but this was real and it captivated him much more than a simple piece of paper with colours and images could ever do.

The sun was setting, bathing the world in a mixture of red and gold, the clearing seemed to be on fire. The heat from the da was still holding the air in it's grip, twisting and manipulating it so that it seemed like the air too had caught alight. The rock seemed to shimmer with an inner light, the surface glittering as if it had thousands of tiny jewels imbedded into it. Kneeling next to it was the last White Tiger, if any thought him beautiful before, they were mistaken. Clad in nothing but a thin pair of deep green pants, which reaced just below the knees, and his own aura knelt the jewel of his race. Smooth, sun kissed skin glistened as a thin sheen of sweat covered it. A tapered waist revealed itself from under the pants, the glistening skin was broken occasionally by the black stripes that ran up his sides, ending just below his pectorals. The living cloak that usually flowed down his back in a ever shifting mixture of black and blue lay over one shoulder, exposing his back to the suns rays of light. The tiger that graced his back was now exposed once again to the world, a powerful body, much like it's bearers, stretched across the expanse of his back in a elegant display of raw power. A long tail flowed around his side to form a half circle around his navel.

Gentle movement, a shift of the ebony mane and attention was brought to the figures head, which had remained lowered and veiled before, familiar amber eyes burned from beneath long black lashes, fire still evident after sitting in the sun. A normally soft and yielding mouth was stretched into a grimace, the edges of fangs sticking out, contained rage making its impending entrance evident. The wild fringe still managed to keep it's shape and framed the owners face, but didn't hide the stripes that had appeared when the sun had started it's descent.

Kai was sure that in the few hours Ray had been missing he had become even more beautiful and enchanting then before. His admiration was brought to a sudden and rude end when another walked to Ray. He felt himself growl when he made out Lee, he would make him pay. He watched as Lee reached for Ray's face, to stroke it maybe, when two hands pushed the hand away, their owner turning his head slightly, making his displeasure known. Kai had only registered then that Ray's hands were tied. He could just make out the material, they hadn't used rope, rather silk covered the delicate wrists of his Love. 'Why silk?' His thoughts were interupted when two others joined them. He growled again when he realised the one was Kiara. He was about to step forward when the other made themselves known. He froze, shock releasing it's numbing effects into his system, stopping him frommoving. He heard the others come up behind him, and Kenny whispered." What's wrong?" Kai jsut watched the four in the clearing. Max answered Kenny's question.

"Jaco, he lied."


Ray looked up as the three Half breeds stood before him. He watched as Lee moved closer to him, hiding something behind his back. He stayed silent, something said to him to do so, and waited to see what he did.

His eyes widened as a beautiful dagger was placed on the ground before him. He was sure it was old, yet it seemed familiar, the craftsmanship was superb. The blade was thin and straight, Ray watched as Lee ran the side of his finger down the edge of the blade only to pull it back when he was cut. Ray smiled to himself, for an old dagger it was still very sharp, his gaze was pulled to the hilt, it was slightly thicker than usual but the designs that graced it made up for the lack of delicacy, which the rest of the dagger seemed to hold dear. Ray wanted to gasp in surprise as he realised the designs he was seeing weren't individual, they made a whole design, his amber eyes deepened in recognition as Lee shifted it so that the design was exposed fully. The tiger that rested upon his back was also staring at him from the hilt, green jeweled eyes glistening as the moon began to appear.

Jaco took the dagger from Lee." We have no more time, the moon is almost full. We must begin soon." The other two nodded, Lee turning to look back at Ray, his eyes were unreadable, then they followed Jaco to prepare the robe. Ray watched as they left, his eyes shifting to the sword again. He didn't know why but something drew him to it, he recognised it, but at the same time knew he had never seen it before. He stopped as he felt a coldness seeped into him, breaking the warmth that had settled into his soul from Kai's promise, replacing it with the icyness of Fate's will. He looked away, it wasn't possible for this to happen, but then who was he to say what Fate should and should not do. He was just another one of her prisoners, bound by the fragility of mortality and all the other things that came with it.

'Why must we fight them? They have not attacked our people, they have attacked the weaker ones. we are safe, why must we pull ourselves into this?"

A young man with flowing raven hair that cascaded down his back to end below his knees turned burning amber eyes to meet the others green ones. It was not long before he looked away, none could look Drigaro in the eye for long, not even those who were close to him. He looked up when those amber eyes ceased in their assualt on his mind and soul, so much responsibility for one so young, so much power for one person. Yet that person stood before him, the most blessed of their great race, he had been their leader for almost two years now and had never led them wrongly, but this choice was wrong. The others didn't deserve their help. They shunned and cursed them for being blessed by the Gods, if only they knew the sorrows that came with those blessings, he doubted they would still want them. He watched as Drigaro softly stroked the sword that was placed on the table. It was a beautiful sword, one that took years to complete, but it had been worth it for it had never failed their leader. Even if they preferred to use their own skills in hand combat rather than rely on weapons they did from time to time. "Do you know why we must do this?" He looked up as Drigaro spoke. He shook his head, Drigaro laughed, he was almost ten years older than his leader yet the young man could make him feel like a child with the greatest of ease." What was the price for our blessings?" "We were made Guardians." Drigaro nodded, smiling." That is why we must do this. To honour our ancestors and to follow our destiny." A nod from his companion seemed to be enough for Drigaro beacuse he finally faced the other fully, his face devoid of the markings that proved him to be the rightful leader of his people. A young face stared at the other, amber eyes still burning fiercely with the inner fire of their kind, but the other wasn't paying attention to that, he was stunned as he looked upon the face of not a spirit, or a God, or a Leader, but looked upon the face of a child.

Ray cried out as he was pulled out of the memory, his eyes went back to the sword. ' I recognise it! Father said it was Drigaro's, but that means it's mine. What are they going to do wih it?' Lee returned. He knelt before Ray, his eyes shining with unspilled tears." I'm sorry Ray, Please forgive me. But I..We must do this. If our kind ever hopes to be blessed you have to die." He shook his head and left Ray sitting there in stunned silence.

"If the others wish to be blessed I must die." The words seemed foreign on his tongue, he had never heard such a thing. Atleast not said by someone close to him. His eyes widened and he turned to look at the dagger. No longer was it's presence welcome, now an arua of death hung around it. Ray's future death.

' Their going to kill me with my own weapon!'

tbc

Well there you go. The second to last chapter. To be honest I can't believe how this story has come out. It was meant to be a few chapters long but it's going to be 19, and I wrote it. I don't know whats more astounding, the fact that I wrote this or the fact that people actually read and enjoyed it? Any thoughts on the whole Ray dieing thing? I had a suggestion from a good friend who read this, but didn't bother to review adds person to list of people to torture before the end of 2005, I wont tell you now though. If you don't mind me writing a sequel, or something along those lines, give me a shout. As I said before, reviews (whether praise or critism) will be forever cherished. Suggestions will be idolised. Have a great day/night/morning/evening/whatever rocks your world!