PART TWO: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

She continued glaring, aware of the intensity of his gaze. Finally she opened her mouth toanswer. He waited expectantly.

"I wasn't."

Kai looked at her as if he'd absolutely love to kill her, or at least throw a punch or two. She smirked as the expression of frustration flashed across his face. He fought to control his emotions, succeeding at last. It was a hard fought battle though, and Kylvren didn't miss that little detail.

"I think we have a problem here," he said calmly.

"What problem would that be?" she asked perfectly innocently.

"I think you're lying to me."

The woman sighed. She turned her blank, blind-looking stare away for a moment, schooling the urge to say something rash. That would only lead to more trouble. Not that she didn't have enough to cope with already…There was no point in getting any deeper into this than she already was. That wasn't needed at the moment, and hopefully it wouldn't be required later.

"Dammit, you're right," she said as subserviently as possible, then added as an afterthought, "bastard."

The look Kai shot her was one that blatantly told her that what she'd said was considered rash. Then again, she didn't particularly care. Why should she care about anything the over-arrogant, self-centered idiot thought or did?

"I knew it!" he said triumphantly, "Now who the hell are you and what are you doing watching me?"

"Wouldn't you just love to know that…but I'm afraid you won't get to at the moment. Please understand that I have a good sense of self-preservation, and I wouldn't want to inadvertently make my life permanently end," she 'explained' oh-so-helpfully.

"As to why I'm spying," she continued, "That's obvious. Figure it out Mr. I Knew It. You certainly seem to think you're smart enough, so prove it. I would've thought the all-famous Kai Hiwatari would be more intelligent than that."

With those last words, she vaulted down out of the tree, landing almost silently in a crouched position on the ground. That fall looked as if it should have hurt, being a good eleven or twelve feet, but she showed no signs of pain or injury. She looked up and flashed a quick grin in the slate-haired boy's general direction and as she walked away she called softly over her shoulder just loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh, and by the way, the name's Ky."

Kai remained in the tree in a stunned silence. Normally he would have pursued her, but this was just too much for his brain to handle. His mind was in a state of shock, too tired to think properly and running in circles.

I'm spied on by a girl I've neither seen nor heard of, who looks albino to top it off, and then I find out she has the same name as me? I don't even know how long she was there. Not to mention I have the feeling she isn't another fangirl. For once I wish she was. I don't believe it. Actually, I do, but I wish I didn't. And her teeth—those weren't teeth. Those were friggin fangs. Real fangs, he thought dazedly, or maybe it's just my imagination working overtime. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find out this was all a pathetic dream.

But what about the girl in the tournament? Ky? She had fangs. Not teeth. Fangs.

Kai got that sinking feeling that comes when one realizes that it's not possible to argue with emotions. He turned his focus inward and willed his mind to believe himself.

Kai, he told himself sternly, there is no such thing as vampires. They. Are. Myths.

And yet, even though his mind was obsessively denying it—deep down inside he knew his was wrong. She wasn't albino. He'd stumbled across a vampire. And there was nothing he could possibly do about it.

Kai walked back to the dojo in shock. He followed the familiar streets without thinking about it, leaving his mind to wonder what happened back there, if indeed it had ever happened at all. He told himself that he shouldn't be worried about something so trivial, but emotions don't listen to mere words the mind tells them. He told himself he wasn't supposed to have emotions at all, but his brain had no answer to that. It didn't need one; what he felt was answer enough.

By the time he arrived at Tyson's place, all the lights had long since been extinguished and the building was silent. The gate was locked, so Kai climbed a tree and vaulted over the wall. Moonlight illuminated the garden, but there was something amiss in it.

In a moment his sharp senses had pinpointed the source of the potential trouble. However, he relaxed as soon as he saw the black and white robes Rei always wore. The other boy was sitting on the edge of the fish pond, swirling a finger in the cold water and disrupting the placid surface. Kai approached Rei slowly, and in complete silence.

Or so he thought.

"Hey Kai," the black-haired teen said quietly to the new arrival.

"Hn," Kai grunted in his usual reply.

"My, my, aren't you in a good mood tonight. Something's on your mind. Care to tell me, or is it something reserved only for the team captain, again?" Rei asked with a hint of edge to his voice.

Kai sighed. He hated how Rei could read every nuance of thought his body betrayed. He made a quick decision to tell Rei what happened. As he explained as best he could, Kai reevaluated the other teen's maturity. It seems he had been wrong in grouping him with Max and Tyson. Surprisingly enough, Rei seemed to take everything in stride. It took a few seconds for Kai to realize why. Rei had fangs too—along with all the White Tigers—just not all the time. It made it all the more obvious that there was more than one race of mankind out there.

"I…think she is a vampire, Kai," Rei said at last, not making him feel any better, "Or at least something like one. And you've already figured out that she was spying for stats to get an edge in that tournament. So…what are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing," he answered truthfully, "It's just that—I got nervous. I didn't know how long she'd been there before I noticed. She's…different. In more ways than just the one, and for some weird reason I have this pull to find out more. Something just intrigues me, and I haven't the least clue as to what it is."

"Then why don't you go and find her? How many people of that description can there be in a city? And how many of them have the same name as you? At least, it's said the same, but I think the spelling may be different. We don't have much to do tomorrow; want me to come with you?"

"No," Kai replied forcefully.

Rei rolled his eyes at his captain's stubborn and ultimately stupid decision. Oh, Kai was a great blader, a great leader, sometimes a good friend (when he wasn't around Kenny, Max, and Tyson), and a good person in general, he tended to be…pigheaded. Therefore, he didn't deserve to hear who Max had found today until he lightened up a bit. Kai's problem, not his.

Kai sat on the stone thinking disconnected thoughts about the night. If there was anything he loved, it was a challenge, and that was definitely what this was. He couldn't figure out what he was being challenged to, but the fact remained that he had to compete. It was in his nature. He'd gotten the feeling that she had been testing him for something, something that was probably a game piece on that challenge board. And for some strange reason, he didn't mind if she were a vampire. In fact, he kind of felt a…kinship to her. Like something inside him was pulling toward that very abnormality she radiated. It was disconcerting to someone who, up until a few months ago, hadn't experienced feelings at all. So he put it out of his mind.

The silence grew long and boring, until Kai finally stood up and walked into the dojo. He unrolled the narrow sleeping pallet Tyson's grandfather had provided for him on the wooden floor. He lay down, having a hard time finding a comfortable position but quite unwilling to let any of the others know about his obsession with the way he slept. It was a good ten minutes before he was situated. Then there was only thought. His overfull, tired mind drifted from thoughts, to feelings….to oblivion.

The next thing he knew, he'd come to all at once and the sun was just beginning to rise. False dawn was providing enough light for him to see by as he stood up quickly and quietly. He didn't know what had woken him, but his reflexes were never on high alert for nothing. Of course, just because there was something out there didn't mean it had to be something bad. Seeing nothing in the immediate vicinity, he rolled up his sleeping gear and placed it back on the ledge where it came from. If anything out there was wanting a piece of him, it would have to come in and get him. If not, it wasn't important. He changed clothes, into baggy black pants and a black and red silk shirt, and headed out the door in three minutes flat.

On his way toward the gate, Kai noticed Rei by the pool. Evidently he'd fallen asleep where he'd been laying the night before and he was snoring softly. One of the larger koi was attempting to eat the end of Rei's ponytail. Kai snickered at his friend as he passed out the gate and into the streets.

The first thing he met was a group of three—armed no less—police officers waiting outside the dojo entrance. He stopped under the archway and looked from side to side in puzzlement. They approached him amiably enough, and he stood his ground. In a period of time so short Kai didn't even have time to react, he was seized by two of the officers while the third pulled out a pair of shiny handcuffs and proceeded to cuff his hands behind his back. Kai protested this treatment rather loudly and found himself with a hand over his mouth. When he wouldn't be quiet and the officers were loathe to wake the rest of the compound, he was silenced with a gag. It tasted as if it were someone's sock. They should've at least washed it first. He struggled, but one boy was no match for two grown men, especially since he couldn't move his hands.

"Kai Hiwatari?" the one who had cuffed him asked.

He nodded warily, unsure of the reason for his detainment and not really wanting to know.

"You are under arrest for the suspicion of murder. The victim, as you may know, is a girl named Mariah Tao, a visiting member of the White Tigers beyblade team and one of your more…public enemies. We have witnesses saying that you were in the park in which she was murdered last night when she was killed. You will be held in the local jail with the other suspects to be questioned. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one," the officer looked him up and down and sneered, "One will be provided for you."

Kai peered at the ground critically and scratched out a few words into the dirt with his foot. Rite 2 remain silent? How the hell can I talk, bastard? He scribbled it out when the man was done reading and wrote, Inocent until proven guilty.

"Kid, if you mouth off to me, I'll be the one to interrogate you. In a locked room with no one to see."

Kai's mind slipped into its previous state of shock at these words. He still hadn't grasped the fact that he was under arrest for a murder he didn't even know had occurred. Not that the death of the pink-obsessed female bothered him that much; on the contrary, it was a good thing for most of the world. Still, someone had died and someone had to pay. And what bothered him the most was that he was a suspect and he was being bodily dragged into a police car.

It was uncomfortable. The seats were crammed up against each other and he had no leg room. The smell of vomit filled the vehicle and Kai wondered how the driver could stand to be in it for more than a few minutes. Padding on the seats was damn near nonexistent. His hands were still behind his back, nearly popping his shoulders out of their sockets. That was the first thing Kai righted. He slid his legs up to his body and wiggled until his hands passed over his feet and in front of him. Much more comfortable. He could feel Dranzer's pull from the front seat, where the beyblade was sitting in the passenger side, along with various other items that had been confiscated when he'd been patted down. They mostly consisted of his blade, two small pocketknives, some gum, and a piece of string.

When he actually arrived after that painful car ride, he was pulled roughly through the doors, down some hallways, through another door, down another hallway, and into a cell block. The letter on the front said 'D' so he assumed it was block D. Shortly thereafter, he was shoved rather unceremoniously into a cell. He stumbled across the threshold, banging his head against the far wall and slumped to the floor groaning. It was a holding cell, larger than most and only meant to be occupied for twenty-four hours or less. You weren't really in jail if you were in there. You might be going to jail. There were no beds. If you wanted to sleep, you slept on the floor. It also contained other captives. After Kai's head recovered from it's meeting with Mr. Wall and his mind cleared slightly, he regained enough of his wits to absorb his surroundings.

And to his complete surprise, he knew both his cellmates.

One was, of course, Ky, who smirked ferally at him. She—now disguised as a he—was much easier to see in the fluorescent light. White hair, white skin, red eyes, and clothed completely in contrasting black. But the other…Kai had known him for longer, much longer. He couldn't believe his eyes; this teen was supposed to be quite dead. It was obvious he wasn't, because standing not two feet away from him was…

Tala Ivanov.

That was when Kai's brain cranked into action. He leapt to his feet, glaring daggers at the red-haired teen as well as the pale…boy. Tala glared right back, as was only proper etiquette. He received a blank gaze from Kylvren, who was somehow managing to radiate her amusement to all of them.

"Long time no see…traitor," Tala said coldly, but those icy blue eyes were far colder.

There was no way out of the cell, no place to go. Kai backed against the wall, his nightmares come to life.

Okay, this is where I leave you. I'd appreciate reviews, even if they're just one word...Feedback is kind of what fuels me. Be back soon, i already have more chaps done, so they'll be up soon.

Tala Kismet, signing off.