Ehm...okay...so the update took a little bit longer than expected, and I'm sorry. But here it is! A little short maybe, but I think that doesn't really matter, cause it is a new chapter at least! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade or any of the characters in it. My only intention is to entertain and I'm not making any money from this.
Chapter 2
GoneRei blinked tiredly into the dim light, angrily aware of the knocking on the door. Although he somewhere knew it was morning, he didn't want to go up, for one very obvious reason –Tala. If Kai had gone with Bryan it meant that he was alone with the moron. Another knocking made him return to reality.
"Hey, wake up, asshole!"
Rei rolled his eyes and rolled over on his stomach. Gazing at the clock, he learned that it had just passed eight and he growled annoyed. It was another four hours until they had to be there, so Tala had no reason to wake him up now.
"If you don't get up before I count to three, I'm coming in there, and trust me, I'm not gonna be nice!"
Rei moaned with exasperation and sat up, rubbing his temples.
"One…Two…"
The tiger gracefully got to his feet and stumbled over to the door. At 'three' he swung the door open and glared at the Russian. Tala glared back at him with a strange expressing in his face, then chuckled dryly.
"I'm flattered you feel comfortable enough around me for that" he sneered.
"For what?" Rei growled harshly and leant against the door frame.
"Nothing. Well, we're off. I'm sick of this damn hotel, and your company is nothing to put in the Christmas tree either, so get your ass outside. You've got five minutes to get dressed, and then I will leave without you!"
"What's the rush?" the neko rolled his eyes. "Are you really that love-sick?"
Tala's eyes glinted with anger, but he walked away without replying. Half way through the corridor, he haltered and turned back.
"Nice body you got there, kitty" he taunted before disappearing around the corner.
It took a few seconds for Rei to fully understand the hint, but when he did, he cursed and slammed the door shut. He walked over to, and glared at himself in, the mirror and eyed his bared skin. Not a single inch of his body was covered and every part of his skin was exposed.
Angered, he slipped into his boxers and then into the rest of his clothes, because of the tournament, the usual traditional Chinese outfit. He snatched his blade, and caught the note before it reached the floor. He read it through once again, and smiled. The wary feeling in his stomach was now gone, and he felt healthier that in a long time.
He peeked outside the window. It was still raining heavily and he shuddered. If it was something he didn't like, it was rain. It was wet and unpleasantly cold. A loud beeping sound could be heard from outside and he opened the window.
"Get your ass down here, now!" Tala shouted from the driving seat of his black jaguar.
"Alright already! Shut up, I'm coming!" Rei growled and slammed the window shut.
'Bastard!' he thought, annoyed.
He rushed outside and he didn't even bother to lock their door. He jumped down the stairs in graceful movements and reached the entrance in a few seconds. Walking outside, he noticed the Jaguar was slowly driving away. Shit, was he really going to drive away?
"Tala, wait!" he called out, and the Jaguar stopped. Feeling a bit relieved, he ran over to the door and jumped inside. "Thanks" he murmured.
"Shut up" the wolf grumbled and stepped on the pedal, leaving the hotel's ground with a loud shriek.
"Uhm, Tala? Mind slowing down a bit?" Rei grasped the seat.
"Yes, actually I do. The further we get there, the further I can be away from you!"
Rei rolled his eyes and studied the landscape that they passed. Everything was drenched, and it looked deadly slippery. The neko sighed and glazed at the driver. Tala was also wearing his tournament outfit, but he looked pretty tired. is eyes seemed a bit dull, and his hair was not as neat as it usually was, small tresses hanging loose.
"You didn't sleep much, did you?" Rei asked.
"No, and you better thank Bryan later! He was up all night trying to get the blade fixed. Apparently, I had trashed it more than usually!"
Rei nodded and took Driger from his pocket. The shiny surface reflected whatever light there was and the bit-chip twinkled a little and he smiled. The tiger inside his blade was clearly after some challenges and he made a silent promise that they would win.
They were now driving upside the mountainside. to the left, it was precipice down to the roaring river, about twenty meters below from where they currently were. Rei leant backwards in his seat and looked to the right instead, earning a taunting smirk from the redhead.
"You scared of heights?" he asked and drove the car closer to the edge.
"Yes, so please don't drive so close" the black-haired teen hissed, causing Tala to chuckle dryly.
However, to the neko's surprise, Tala left the edge and drove further to the right. Rei released his breath and smiled; Maybe Tala didn't hate him as much as he thought.
Twenty minutes had passed, and they drove into the parking lot at the stadium. The huge building reached up towards the clouds in all its magnificent and Rei opened his mouth out of admire. Tala jumped out of the car and the amber eyed teen followed his example.
Locking his car, the redhead walked into the facility, followed by the feline boy, much to his annoyance. Inside of the building, he shook his head to get rid of all the water as his eyes searched for any familiar faces, which he soon spotted.
"Spencer! Ian!" he yelled and ran over to his fellow Russians.
Rei saw the happiness in Tala's face and smiled when he jumped up at the blonde and hugged him. Spencer smiled and patted his head, then put him back down at the ground where he was greeted by Ian.
"Rei!" the sound of his own name caught his attention and he grinned widely when he spotted his old bladebreaker team mates. He walked over to them and hugged both Tyson and max at once.
"I'm glad you showed up" he smiled.
"You kidding? I said we would be your cheerleaders, and I was not kidding!" Tyson pulled out two pom-pom's from his backpack and the neko started laughing.
"Where's chief?"
"Kenny? He couldn't come. Too much homework, but he will watch the tournament on TV. He sends his greetings and wishes though."
"Too bad, I wanted to see him."
"Now, where's Kai?" Max asked and looked around.
"I'm sure meeting you brought back scary memories for him and he ran away" Rei chuckled.
"Hardly, but that's what might happen"
Rei frowned and shifted position.
"What do you mean 'might'?"
Tyson and Max exchanged looks and looked honestly surprised and confused.
"We have not met him yet" Tyson said slowly, looking funnily at the Chinese.
"What? But…he should have been here since hours back with Bryan!"
Max tilted his head at the state.
"I'm sorry Rei, but we were the first ones here, about three hours back and we've been here by the door the whole time waiting for you guys. Neither Kai nor Bryan have arrived yet"
Rei slowly started to panic, thinking through the information. It was not possible! The stadium laid at the end of the road, and there was no side-turns at all. In other words, they could not have got lost on their way over, and if they had not arrived yet, that meant…
"Rei? You okay?" max interrupted his thoughts and he shook his head.
"No, I'm not" he glanced over at Tala who had suddenly gotten very quiet. He sharpened his hearing.
"What do you mean 'not here'?" Rei widened his eyes at Tala's question.
"We have not seen Bryan yet. And the same goes for Kai" Ian explained, sounding a bit uncertain.
"That's bullshit!" Tala shouted, turning everyone's attention towards him. "They left like three hours before us, dammit! How could they not be here yet!" A loud murmur echoed within the walls, and Tala turned around towards the rest of the teams. "Have anyone seen them at all?"
His question wasn't answered, and the two members of bladebreakers looked at each other. Rei put his hand over his mouth and widened his eyes slightly and Tala breathed heavily.
"Where are they?" Tala asked monotonously. Rei shook his head.
"I don't know."
As on command, everyone started running towards the reporting disk. halting before it, Rei opened his mouth to ask the question, but Tala was quicker.
"Have someone reported the bladebreakers yet?"
The woman behind the disk typed something on the keyboard and watched the screen. She then shook her head.
"I'm sorry, not yet. You want me to registrate you?"
Tala growled frantically and ran off, leaving the confused woman behind. Rei turned towards her.
"Put us on the list, but under 'possibly attending'" he murmured and ran after the redhead.
Tala was on the phone when he caught up with him, shouting harsh things in Russia at, whoever was in the other end. Growling with anger, he suddenly tossed the cell-phone into the wall, making it shatter.
"Fucking idiotic assholes!" he screamed, eyes shooting daggers at everyone foolish enough to come close. He then locked his eyes with the tiger's.
"Did Kai tell you where they were going?"
"Yes, he wrote that they would go to report out team"
"Is that all?"
"Yes"
Tala sighed and leant against the wall. Rei looked down at the ground underneath his feet and then turned towards the windows.
'Kai, where are you?'
he jerked when someone placed an hand on his shoulder, but relaxed when he found it to be none other than Oliver.
"Don't worry, Rei. I'm sure they're alright. They probably just ran out of gas or something."
The neko smiled slightly and chuckled at the encouraging words.
"Too bad there isn't a gas station in the nearest environment then."
"Don't worry" Oliver repeated and walked off.
'Easy for you to say' Rei mused and sat down at a bench. 'It's not Enrique that's missing.'
Tala dropped down by his side with a huge sigh.
"So?" The Chinese asked.
"What so?" the wolf grumbled frustrated.
"Found them yet?"
"What do you think, you ass! Of course I have not, and I can't get in touch with them on Bryan's cell phone either…man this really sucks!"
"it sure does." the amber eyed boy looked outside the window into the rain.
"Oh, please. Could you sound anymore concerned!" The Russian said with no small amount of sarcasm.
"I didn't mean it like that" Rei snapped as reply.
Tala got to his feet and walked off without a word, and Rei groaned angrily. What was it with that jerk? really, Rei had never done anything towards him…except for steeling Kai, but that was beside the point…okay, so that might be the reason, but that was not simply fair. If anything, their relationship was Kai's fault.
He sighed tiredly and walked over to where Tyson and Max stood. Max smiled weakly as he approached.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they're both alright"
"People keep saying that" the tiger smiled, remember Oliver's words.
"Nah, they are both way to stubborn to get killed" Tyson laughed, but soon stopped when he earned an elbow in the stomach. He cast an accusing glare at Max but Max just shook his head warningly.
"Killed?" Rei chuckled and Tyson got a guilty expression.
"I'm sorry. Guess I didn't think again"
Both Rei and Max burst out laughing at that, and people around them looked in their direction. Rei could almost feel the hateful glare from the redheaded Russian and therefore settled.
"Well, since they're not here…and they're not at the hotel, where could they be?" Rei murmured worriedly.
"Hey, remember that time before the Asian tournament three years ago? When you and me got stuck climbing the mountains to get there in time?"
"Uh-huh" the ebony haired teen replied the dragon.
"Maybe it's like that time. They'll show up in the last minute, right Max"
"Of course they will! No doubt about it!" The blonde cheered, but the worried light in his eyes did not pass by unnoticed by the neko-jin.
"I-I gotta go to the bathroom" he said quickly. "Where is it?"
"Around the corner to the left" Tyson smiled and pointed.
"Thanks"
He ran fast, passing other teams and visitors in his path. He yanked the door open and threw himself inside. Turning on the tap, and splashing cold water in his face, he realised his breathing quivered.
'Calm down!' he commanded himself.
For a few seconds, it seemed as he was going to be able to pull it off, but then, he felt the salt tear travel down his cheek. More water emerged from his eyes, and he choked on a sob, sinking to the ground.
'This can't be happening. It can't be…It can't be!" he pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms, starting to cry.
Outside of the door, the redhead closed his eyes and sighed frantically, listening to the quiet sobs from inside the bathroom. he shook his head and growled slightly.
'Kai, you bastard. You can't leave me with him like that. You can't leave him like that either! And, you can't take Bryan with you either! We…I…he, needs you.'
He glanced at his watch and frowned.
'Where the heck did you two go?'
Tbc