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Rei walked back slowly to his room after taking a shower. He was partly surprised to see Kai inside, but remember a split second later that Kai was his roommate.

He was hoping to look at more of the pictures inside Tyson's album, but seeing Kai in the same room and the possibility of him asking why he still had the book wasn't something he wanted to answer at the moment. Rei walked pass his teammate's bed and as Kai was reading his book, Rei gave a quick glance at him. After making sure that Kai wasn't watching, he sliding the book quickly over to the other side where he wasn't going to be laying and slid in between the mattress and the blankets.

Rei tried to go to sleep, but with the light on his teammate's side still on, he found it hard to.

"We have training tomorrow, don't we?" Rei asked as an attempt to converse with Kai. Plus to give him a hint to turn off his light.

"Yeah. Is this an attempt to tell me to turn off the light?" Kai asked back.

"No, but since you mention it…" Rei retorted, a bit nerved at how Kai knew what he was thinking, and left his sentence open for Kai to reply.

A few seconds passed and Rei could hear (or practically visualize) Kai reaching for his bookmark and closing his book. He turned off the light and Rei wondered if he should chance it.

Hm?

"Goodnight," Rei said quietly.

…

" 'Night."

XXXX

The next morning, Rei woke up with a start.

Kai, to his amazement, was still asleep. The older boy was always up before anyone else and it was mostly to go training.

Hm...? It was still dark. He opened the curtains and looked outside. It wasn't cloudy or anything- in fact, it wasn't even dawn yet. Rei gave a quick glance at the clock and slipped out of bed.

3:30 A.M.

XXXX

The sun shone in through the curtains and Kai winced at the blinding sun. Hadn't he closed them last night?

He lifted himself up slowly to look over at Rei- seeing as how he was always sleeping in. But he was absent- his bed made like he hadn't slept there all night.

Oh no…

It had suddenly came to him that it was way late in the morning. Everyone was probably training… He wouldn't let Tyson beat him.

He changes his clothes and washed his face. All this while, he was still mad at Rei for not waking him. He sighed- nothing he could do about it anyways.

Before he left, he made sure that Dranzer was safely tucked into his pocket and headed downstairs.

But, he hadn't noticed that Drigger was still on the table next to Rei's bed.

"Wha?" Kai had let slip out of his mouth when he reached the lower level. Tyson and Max were eating cereal- not training like he expected…

"Hey, Kai!" Tyson greeted as he spot the boy. "Whatcha doing sleeping late?"

"It's okay, though," Max said, pushing an empty bowl towards Kai. "Here. I made sure that Tyson didn't eat all of the cereal."

"No, thanks," Kai said carelessly. "I'll get something on the way."

"On the way where?" Max asked.

"To training. I have to make up for the time I slept in." Kai was heading toward the door when he suddenly remembered. "Oh, and tell Rei, "thanks" for waking me up," he said sarcastically.

"Rei? He's not up yet, is he?"

Kai looked at Tyson sharply. "What do you mean? Isn't he training now?"

Tyson and Max gave each other a quick, confused glance. "He didn't even come downstairs to eat…" Max explained, at the same time wondering where Rei could be.

"Hn." At the moment, Kai looked like he no longer had any interest in where the Chinese boy was and headed towards the door with a shrug.

"Like it matters anyway. He was always the weak link."

And that was what set off Tyson's short temper. "How can you say that, Kai!" He stood up an looked like it was going to get violent.

It was until Max stood up and rested his hand on his shoulder. "That was uncalled for, Kai. If he's hurt…" he drifted off, but regained his voice afterwards. "On your way out, try to find him, okay?"

"Sure," Kai said, again sounding like he didn't care. The door closed and Max looked at the clock.

"Hmph. Sometimes I think that Kai doesn't care about any of us. If he wasn't a good blader…" Tyson threatened, slumping back down into his chair and crossing his arms.

"Tyson. Didn't you notice that Kai overslept? It's already 10."

Tyson looked up from his mumbling. "Huh? Yeah, you're right. He was the one who said that we should wake up early for training… " Tyson observed thoughtfully. "He's like born with an internal clock. Weird." A moment of silence, but he soon dismissed his thought. "Well, we better get moving."

"Okay, then. Let me get Dracel and I'll see you outside. "

XXXX

Rei's stomach growled and he wished that he had grabbed something to go before he left. Hmm… That looked it a good store….

He decided that he would buy something to eat later- good thing he brought money along. He looked around. It was such a long time since he actually saw Japan. He knew that he would be in trouble with his teammates when he got back, but it was worth it.

As he waited for the walk light to turn green, he spotted a market across the street. It wouldn't hurt if he just took an apple, would it? It wasn't like anyone would notice anyhow…

He smiled and crossed the street, walking slowly to get lost in the crowd.

He smiled and quickly reached out his hand and just as quickly recoiled it- the apple tucked safely into his pocket. Only when he was far enough did he chance to eat it.

He didn't know why he stole- he had enough money for a bushel of them.

"I can't do anything about it anyways," Rei reasoned, taking another bite and brushing away any regrets he had. He had been training his reflexes ever since his took up Beyblading- it would be a shame if he lost his skill.

He finished the rest of his stolen fruit and tossed it away. Just as he did this, he saw Kai walk on the opposite side of the road, waiting until it was safe to cross to his side of the street. He kept walking and hoped that his teammate wouldn't see him. He hurried pass the people walking next to him and once he was sure that Kai was far away, he slowed down.

It was getting too risky to go out. Especially since Kai had a very sharp eye for seeing things other people couldn't.

XXXX

"Kai? Did you find- Ah? Rei? You're back!" Max said, dropping his launcher and running towards Rei. He had thought Kai was the one entering through the gate.

"Where have you been? You didn't even come down for breakfast…" Max said, first excitement then disappointment steeping into his voice.

"Heh. Sorry, Max. " Rei looked around. "Where's Tyson?" he asked curiously.

"He's in the kitchen getting a snack. Since it is lunch time," Max said, crossing his arms in a disapproving manner.

"Sorry!" Rei apologized again with a playful laugh. "I was… Well…um. " He stopped to debating whether he should tell Max why he snuck out. He didn't want Max to worry. Last time he went to see Japan, he got a long lecture about going alone in a foreign country. Something like he should have brought Tyson…?

"I just went for some breakfast. I didn't feel like eating cereal since we can eat it everyday," Rei said casually. "We really should take advantage to these authentic Japanese food, Max."

"Well, I see that you didn't bother inviting me along!" Max said, turning away to make his friend feel guiltier than he already felt.

Rei smiled and put his arm around Max's shoulder, ruffling his hair with his other hand. "I'll remember that, okay? I'll invite you next time."

"Alright, " Max gave in, smiling as Rei continued to ruffle his hair. Max couldn't really ever pretend to be mad for long-and if he was, he wasn't one to hold a grudge. Rei knew that and used it for his advantage- in a purely friendly friendship way, of course.

"Good morning. When did you get back?" Tyson said patiently, peering closely at his guilty friend.

'Uhh…" Rei said, he turning around.

"Hehe. Tyson! Sleep well? Good- gotta go and get Drigger! Be right out!" Rei said in a jumble and ran back into the temple.

"Er- did you hear Rei say anything about his absence?" Max asked curiously once he saw that Rei had left. He didn't know whether or not Tyson heard anything. But if he did, he would have said something about getting him some food.

"No, not really. I just knew he was talking to you," Tyson said, just as casually as Rei had. "What- do you think I freaked him out of something?"

"No, no!" Max said quickly, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. "I was just wondering." He didn't want Rei to get in trouble- since he left without any notice or that he missed training practice.

"He… didn't tell you anything, did he?" Tyson asked.

"No. I…" Max paused, thinking quickly of what his excuse such be, "I told him that he should go get some lunch before training."

"Oh," Tyson said.

"Umm…" Max said since they were just standing there.

"Well… How about a battle? I didn't get to show you how much Dragoon improved yet!" Tyson said, taking out his blade and showing Max the new design color he got installed over the summer.

"Okay. Sure! Dracel hasn't been able to get a good battle in a long time."

They were setting up their blades to battle until a small squeak from the gate made them stop.

"Rei. Is he back?" came Kai's short question.

"Er- yeah. He's upstairs getting Drigger. Hey, where are you going?" Tyson asked angrily. Kai had continued walking to the door- pass the two- and didn't seemto care what Tyson's question to him was.

"To the door, genius," Kai remarked sarcastically.

"Grr… Why you-"

"Tyson! Don't let that get you mad. You know that Kai was just teasing!" Max heard the sliding door close and he sighed heavily. "But I would like to know what is going on between those two… They've been acting very strangely," Max said thoughtfully, referring to Kai and Rei.

"Yeah, well.." Then suddenly Tyson said, "You're right, Max- I've been over reacting too much. Let's just battle," Tyson said with a shrug. "I'm curious to see Dracel!"

"But- Um… Alright, then," Max said perplexed. Tyson wasn't really the one to admit anything if it was against him. And if that ever did happen, you would have probably beaten him up or something.

XXXX

"Man… I'm so hungry…" Rei complained as he headed towards his bedroom. He knew that he told Max that he had already ate, but that was the best he could think of.

"I'll just get Drigger and good downstairs for a snack," Rei decided. "Now… where are you?"

Rei looked next to his bed and on the floor to see if he dropped it. Hm… He closed his eyes and tried to replay yesterday's events. He went up stairs and took a shower… he remembered not wanting to get Drigger wet so he left his blade…

"Ha! Drigger! There you are!" Rei said, smiling as he spotted his blade on top of the drawer. He picked up Drigger and was about to leave when he saw his book barely sticking out of his covers.

Someone's coming, he thought, his instinct reacting quickly to the sound of someone ascending up the stairs.

He quickly took his blade from the drawer and made it appeared that he was just coming out of his room, shining his blade carfully as he did.

"Hi, Kai," Rei greeted quickly, wanting to go and get some lunch. He walked pass him, but Kai's voice stopped him.

"You seem to be busy this morning. Where did you go?"

"To get some breakfast," Rei lied, repeating the same story he told Max. It wasn't like they knew what time he woke up- but Kai? Maybe he knew…

"Really? Then we'll go and train right now since you missed the morning session." Kai had this tone to him and made it sound like a "I- know- where- you- where" sort of thing.

"Ah…" Rei said hesitantly. He truthfully didn't eat anything this morning and he had missed lunch- but Kai was getting suspicious when he didn't answer.

"Yeah, okay then."

"Hn." Kai stayed where he was. "I thought that you didn't eat anything so I brought you some food. But you already said you ate…"

Rei tried not to put on an accountable face, but his stomach was wildly complaining on the mentioning of food. "Egh… Yeah, well," was all he could say- his walk around Tokyo leading to his exhaustion.

"It's down in the kitchen," Kai said, turning away from the Chinese boy, and picking up his launcher on the night stand. Rei blinked, watching Kai curiously, before smiling gratefully. Kai wasn't as bad as he made out to be.

"Thanks. But don't tell the others. Max would freak if he found out, " Rei said, humor steeping into his voice as he talked. A moment later he left, Kai's gaze following after him.

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