Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade – HEAR THAT, LAWYERS!
Claimer: I own (from this chapter): Whoever you don't recognise from Beyblade, basically...Gen, June and the orphanage kids.
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Hold my Hand
Chapter Eight: The Lone Wolf
The orphanage was huge; bigger than Kai remembered it in the 'dream'. The main building was at least six storeys high, and there was another building, almost the same height, not too far behind it. The grounds of the orphanage were covered in a thick layer of snow, which was only broken by the footprints of those who lived within the old walls. There was little for the children to do beside sway on the swings or play hopscotch on the back veranda of the main building. Other children played games with skipping ropes, but were otherwise confined to talking or snowball fights.
Between the two buildings was a small pond with an ugly horse-and-knight statue in the centre. Usually, it produced a flurry of water, but not now. The horse's stone hooves were invisible within the ice.
Kai, Rei and Hilary could see many children doing cartwheels in the snow by the fountain, but the main attraction seemed to be a makeshift volleyball net, which a large group of kids and what seemed like two adolescents were playing.
Kai immediately felt his insides squirm.
The ball then came flying for his head –
Wham.
Kai stumbled back and landed on his butt in the snow, holding a hand over what felt like his bleeding nose. He blinked down at the white of the snow; dotted with blood.
'Kyara! Go say sorry to our visitor!' One of the two adolescents barked. She was shorter than the first, with her wavy brown hair tied back in a bun to reveal a face that had been severely burnt once upon a time.
Kai stopped looking cross-eyed at his nose and found a little girl staring at him, face white with cold, a curious expression in her eyes. Her nose wriggled slightly.
'Kyara!'
The little girl grabbed the ball, which was now by Rei's feet. Without a word, she hurried back to the volleyball net. Kai heard a loud groan of annoyance from the net and the teen with the russet hair came over, dragging her feet.
'Hey, sorry about that,' she said to Kai, eyeing the blood trickling from his nose. 'The kid's are shy, you see?' She giggled at Kai's blank expression. 'Ah, need some help?'
It was then that the second teen came over, a few of the children following her, obviously coming to see who the strangers were.
Kai swallowed deeply.
It was Susi, it just had to be. Every part of her was the same, right up to her roughly cut hair and dark eyes. She even wore the same coat Kai had met her in, save for it had been mended with even more patches.
'Susi?' Kai asked, his voice croaking slightly, perhaps from the pain throbbing in his throat. Perhaps from his nerves.
Susi frowned slightly. 'Yeah, that's me.'
Kai took his hand away from his nose. Several of Susi's young accompaniments rushed off screaming. They didn't like blood. It was sticky and red.
Kai supposed that Susi wanted to scream too. Her mouth fell open slightly, and she muttered, 'So, who are you?'
'You don't remember me?' Kai clenched his teeth. 'Kai. Kai Hiwatari.'
A little boy beside Susi gasped, poked her in the knee. 'Susi, Susi? Isn't he the –'
'Madár, shoosh.' Susi snapped, before looking back at Kai. 'I do not know you and fail to see why I should. You're an intruder on our grounds, so either adopt someone or get out.'
The brown-haired adolescent burst out laughing. But Kai couldn't take his eyes off Susi: she was dead serious.
'Susi...?' Kai asked in a hushed voice. 'I thought –'
'And don't call me Susi,' the dream-girl said stubbornly. 'Only my friends call me that. The name's Gen.'
With that, she was off.
The reality hit Kai over the head like the volleyball. His thoughts hadn't deceived him – Gen, was really his sister.
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'Maybe she's having a delayed reaction to Kai's appearance, sort of like those guys in 'Nam.' Hilary was saying at the hotel café that night, Rei and Kai both sitting with her.
'You can't call it " 'Nam", Hilary!' Rei barked. 'You have to call it "Vietnam", like everyone else!'
Hilary sighed deeply and turned to Kai. 'I'm really sorry, Kai. I thought Susi – I mean, Gen – would be happy to see you.'
Kai closed his eyes and bowed his head. 'So did I...'
The words hung in the air. Kai nearly punched himself – what had he expected? For Gen to come rushing into his arms after all these years away from him, when he had been the one who hadn't come to her in so long?
'...What are we going to do?' Rei asked quietly. 'Go back to the orphanage?'
'What else can we do? We can't leave Gen there without letting her know how much Kai cares about her.' Hilary pointed out. 'Besides, what about that freaky spirit that's been following us around?'
'Haine?' Rei said bluntly. 'How is he going to get to us? We're ages away.'
'Just because he's some kind of demon doesn't mean he can't follow us,' Kai muttered. 'He can get us no matter where we go.'
He looked up. Both Rei and Hilary appeared quite concerned.
'Have you seen him, Kai?' Rei asked timidly, as if afraid of the answer.
Kai wrapped his hands around his drink, drumming his fingers on it thoughtfully. 'I don't know. Just a reflection.'
'Reflection?' Hilary said, confused. 'Where?'
'Hotel window.'
'So, he is here?'
Kai sighed. 'He's everywhere, Hilary.'
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Back over at The Saint's Orphanage, Gen was getting ready for bed when there was an unexpected tap at her dormitory door. Gen looked left and right, hoping that the knock wouldn't wake the two younger girls she shared her room with, before she went over and answered the door.
Standing outside was Gen's best friend in the orphanage, June, who had been playing volleyball with her today when Kai had appeared. Her hair had been let out, obscuring her burn from view.
'Hey,' June said in a mere whisper. 'Bad time?'
Gen shook her head. 'Not at all. What is it?'
'I just came to ask if you're okay.' June said.
Gen nodded now. 'Yeah.'
'I mean...what about that guy? Is he stalking you or something? Are you worried about it?' June questioned, sounding more timid by the minute. Usually, she was a loud and bold person, but when she was alone, June was a very quiet and calm individual.
Gen sighed deeply. 'No, it's okay. I know that guy.'
June instantly became bright. 'Ooh! Do you have a secret boyfriend that I don't know about? He is cute.'
Gen didn't laugh at all. Instead, she muttered, 'No. He's...my brother.'
June fell silent and a hush seemed to envelope the hallway. 'What? But, Gen, you don't have a brother.'
'I do.'
'But, how? No one's come to visit you in years.'
Gen cleared her throat, about to recap on a small and painful memory of hers. 'When all the staff here thought I'd gone crazy, I hadn't. I had a vision...and Kai was in it.'
'And he said you were his sister?'
'No, but...' the corner of Gen's lips twitched, as if she were about to smile. 'I felt it. There was a connection, like some invisible rope that held us together; it was weak, but it was there. For once, I felt whole, and when he spoke, everything just seemed...right again.'
June listened on in silence, mouth hanging open slightly. For a moment, she was jealous, but then she was happy for Gen. All she could say was, 'He had your eyes.'
'Our mother's eyes.' Gen corrected her quietly.
June nodded, but then asked croakily, 'Why were you so...mean to him.'
Gen chewed her lip. 'It's just – I don't know. A part of me didn't want to believe he'd come back to me.'
'I'm happy for you, Gen. But that was a stupid thing to do.'
'I know...'
'Are you going to go find him?' June wondered curiously. Gen shrugged, scratching her fingernails into the wood of her door. 'I don't know where he is.'
June gave her a small wink. 'Don't worry: he'll come to you.'
Gen nodded and smiled, perhaps for the first time after seeing Kai. 'I hope so...I think I owe him an apology.'
June wagged a finger at Gen. 'You bet you do, missy.'
Gen just laughed and closed her door. June sighed a happy sigh and made her way back to her dormitory, which was just down the hall from Gen's.
When she got there, she sincerely wished she'd stayed back with Gen.
The dark figure moved fast, and before June knew it, a blade was in her neck and her life vanished before her eyes.
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Kai awoke suddenly back at the hotel, roused by a dream. He wasn't sure, but he swore he saw Haine lingering in the shadows, his blade cutting through flesh and blood flickering through the air.
Kai sat up, flicking on the lamp on his bedside table. His eyes wandered to the phone there, and for a moment, a serious thought passed through his head.
Kai picked up the phone and began to dial; dial the number for The Saint's Orphanage.
The receptionist there picked up and said something briskly in Russian. Kai answered back, also in Russian, asking for Gen. The receptionist seemed confused to why Kai was calling at this hour, but she put Kai through to the phone upstairs in the hallway where Gen's room was.
Kai waited for only a few moments before Gen answered. Immediately, he heard that she'd been crying: her voice was shaky and she continuously sniffed loudly into the phone.
'Hello?' Gen whispered.
'Su – Gen? What's wrong?' Kai asked, grinding his teeth.
Gen sniffed again, and Kai could almost hear the tears on her face as they left her eyes. 'Kai...something terrible just happened...'
-End chapter eight-
MidnightBallad: Sorry for the slowness of the updating, but this story's just getting good, for me anyway. Please don't make me discontinue it, cause this had got to be one of the best stories I've written. Plus, I cried in that chapter...music from Final Fantasy X and dramatic scenes don't go well together.
Right, better go. Don't forget to review!