Warning : Strong language, violence & M/M

Disclaimer : I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters. The characters you do not recognise are mine and are not to be stolen/used in any story other than my own.

------------------------------------

After what had been a very tiring day, Kai trudged back and forth through the city streets, trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. He had thought about going back to his flat, but he didn't want to 'tamper with the evidence' that was held against him, he knew it would just make him look even more guilty. He'd wanted to follow Rei home in a hope that he could offer a place to stay, but Kai didn't think that stalking his crush was a very good idea. He just hoped he'd find somewhere before the rain began, it had already clouded over. He had no waterproof coat… He only had with him what he was wearing, and a couple of t-shirts shoved in his bag – Nothing warm to protect him from the weather.

He stopped, realising he'd walked himself in a complete circle and was pretty much lost. He knew there was a park near by, so ambled around in the cooling breezes trying to find it. Once within the small park, he dropped heavily onto a bench, needing the rest. The were some children playing nearby, laughing noisily. Listening to them, Kai smiled. It reminded him of past happiness, and he made a silent wish for each of those children to have a happy life. Although he came off as a cold person, Kai loved children. He preferred spending time playing with them rather than with any one of his own age… Though, the neko-jin seemed to be filled with conversations that would interest Kai. He'd been sat for a good few minutes when the clouds opened and the rain began to fall – Heavily. Groaning, Kai picked himself up and started walking again. Goosebumps appeared on his arms as a shiver ran through his body, the wind was picking up and it was extremely cold. An extra sharp force struck the side of Kai's face.

'That wasn't rain…' Kai was slightly dazed, and groaned as his head crashed onto tarmac after a second strike to his face. He felt his bag being forced from his shoulders, and then he realised. 'Fuck.' He tried not to panic as a foot collided with the small of his back, and another soon to his shin. He clung desperately onto his bag as more kicks and punches were aggressively being administrated to his already aching torso. Kai managed to pull himself to his feet, only to be punched hard in the stomach. The offender soon wished he had made no move, as Kai gave one angry hit to the man's jaw, knocking him back. Striking out at the second offender, before grabbing his bag and running, Kai wished death upon his muggers. He spat blood on the floor and headed back into the light of the main city – Since the heavy rain had began, the surrounding atmosphere had darkened.

Rounding another corner, Kai didn't have a clue where he was. Apparently it was some kind of suburban nightmare. Completely unlike the spacious, comfy two-storey flat that Kai owned, the street before him was home to masses of dodgy-looking high-rise flats that could fall down any second, tiny little scruffy terraced homes with roof slates missing, and a couple of old, burnt-out or abandoned buildings. 'Nice.' Thought the blunette, sarcastically. Tensing as he heard hushed laughter, Kai's crimson eyes flicked from side to side; he wasn't really too keen on meeting another person who wanted to beat the crap out of him and steal his money. Spitting yet another mouthful of blood onto the pavement, the blunette sauntered toward the other end of the street, but was brought to a halt by somebody whispering his name. Heart beating slightly faster, Kai searched around him with accusing eyes that twitched at any movement.

'Kai…' There it was again. 'Follow me.' Wanting to run from the voice, the perplexed teenager turned on his heel. He was about to run when he could see the men up ahead – the ones who had attacked him. They began running at him. Kai had no choice. He darted toward the disembodied voice and ran like hell. He didn't know where he was going, but found himself listening to that voice. It was telling him where to turn, where to run, where to hide, it whispered fuzzily that he should turn left, and as he did so, he stumbled onto…

"The basketball courts?" Kai didn't have a clue why he'd been directed there, or why he'd even followed that stupid voice in the first place. He didn't know how to get back to the station, he didn't have anywhere to stay that night, but.. He wasn't alone. The crimson eyes were fixed on a tall figure, running around in the rain bouncing a basketball and taking perfect shots that always scored. Another two boys seemed to be trying to get the ball from the taller, more flexible teen. Kai watched, then accidentally gave his presence away, by needing to cough up another mouthful of blood. The pairs of eyes focused upon him, one green, one brown, one gold, as the crimson-eyed boy wiped some blood from his lips.

"What the hell happened to you?" The owner of the brown eyes spoke, staring up at Kai from beneath navy tresses. The elder blunette registered the angst on the teen's face as he half asked, half demanded what had caused the blood and bruises that were heavily spread across Kai's face. He also noticed the small blond and the cat had the very same worry written in their eyes. He sighed, wiping away some persistent blood that had once again started leaking from his nose.

"I was attacked." Kai told the trio simply; but of course, this only brought more questions.

"By who?"

"When?"

"Where?"

"Are you okay?"

It was the soft tone of the last question that bought his eyes to meet those of the neko. Kai nodded and knew he had to ask… There seemed to be no other way.

"I'm fine… Can I stay at your place?" Three pairs of eyes lit up. The two younger boys nodded, looking at Rei. He smiled at them and turned back to Kai. 'Do they… All… Live together?" He wondered.

"Sure." As the cat spoke his answer, the other two grinned at each other. "These two are staying at mine tonight too." That statement answered the others questions forming in the slate-haired teen's mind. He nodded. The next question directed at him, however, came as quite a surprise.

"Do you have a home?" The blond speaker cowered slightly at the glare from Kai, so tried to explain his question. "Well I just… Last night you were sleeping at the station and now you…" The crimson-eyed death glare still on him, the boy trailed off into silence, looking at his feet. Kai then realised that it was actually quite a justified question. He pondered his answer before speaking, turning away as he did so.

"At the moment… No." Despite having asked the question, this obviously came as a surprise, as it did to the other teens standing before the shivering blunette, who choked on a little more of his own blood. A strong gust of wind sent a cold shock down Kai's spine. He absent-mindedly folded his arms across his stomach and gripped his elbows. Damn, it was cold. The sky lit up suddenly with a flash that was shortly followed by a horrific low grumble, which sent the small blonde cascading into his two friends', quivering.

"I think we should go now." The boy whispered, green eyes darting around in fear. The others nodded their agreement as Rei waved a hand in toward himself, motioning Kai to follow them.

It wasn't long at all before the soaked group trudged through the door of Rei's small house, soon to be greeted by a tall, sleek woman with the same black hair and yellow eyes as her son's. After looking at the three teens she knew well and 'tutting' about them staying out in the rain, her soft eyes fell upon Kai. The golden orbs studied his bruises and the blood staining his face, before moving toward his soaked clothes. She looked back at her son, questioning.

"This is Kai. We met him at school… And he had nowhere to stay." The boy paused. "You don't mind do you?" The woman shook her head, turning her gaze back to the tall blunette before her. She began muttering as she ushered the four into the warm, cosy space of the living room.

"Poor boy… Drenched to the bone, cut and hurt, nowhere to stay…" Her sympathetic murmurs could be heard as she headed into the kitchen. Kai looked around the room, taking in the smiley family photos and the calm, happy atmosphere of the entire home. Looking at one photo in particular, he smiled. Two adults, both with dark hair and tanned skin stood, each holding a young child in one arm, the other of their arms wrapped around another, older boy that stood in front of them.

'They look so happy.' Kai sighed to himself, wishing he'd had a family like this. Rei had obviously noticed the teen, and had come to stand by him. Picking up the photo, he pointed to the individual members in their wonderful, relaxed stances, locked within a perfect picture.

"That's my mum and dad." He informed Kai, crimson eyes following the cat's finger as it pointed to the adults. Then to the children, first the girl perched on his mother's hip, "And that's my sister," then to the slighter younger boy in his father's arm, "my brother," and lastly to the boy stood in front, "and me. I was only eight in that picture." The cat chuckled. Kai sighed again, the teenager next to him knew how lucky he was to have a caring family and a home, and didn't gloat about it. Looking into the innocent golden eyes, Kai hoped that Rei would be okay tomorrow… For then, the 'three days' would be up.

'Something bad will happen.' He knew it would. Although he couldn't explain it, there was a dark, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. 'But it better not happen to my cat.' Kai had almost taken hold of Rei's arm as he'd had his distressing thought. He didn't want anything to happen to the beautiful neko-jin beside him – Unless it would make the dark-haired teen happy.

"Kai… You okay?" Glazed eyes and a dark glare showed the deep thought of the blunette wasn't the nicest of thoughts. The other three teens had obviously noticed that something was amiss, and had decided to mention it. Kai blinked and nodded at the younger blunette who had asked the question. Rei spoke up.

"Let's go upstairs and change into something dry. Then we can eat." Everyone seemed to approve of this idea, either silently as Kai had, or with a loud "Whoop!" that Tyson and Max seemed fit to use in agreement.

It appeared that Rei's room was in the attic and, after climbing the normal stairs, Kai watched as Rei pulled a fold-out wooden ladder down from a trapdoor in the ceiling. He followed the other three teens inside, then watched as Rei pulled the ladder back up and closed his 'door'. Crimson eyes stared round the large room, it obviously stretched across the entire house, the size of it made that much evident. It was decorated with cream walls, a red Chinese pattern ran round the centre as a border. Carpet, curtains, drapes and bed covers were the same deep red as the border. Due to the low ceiling of the attic room, Rei's bed had been specially made. It was just a mattress on the floor, but had a dark wooden edging round it with a headboard, supposedly to make it look 'proper'. Looking around, Kai noticed that all the wood in the room was the same deep mahogany.

'This room is amazing..' he thought to himself. And that was before he'd noticed that the lucky Chinese boy also had his own en-suite bathroom too, well a toilet and sink anyway. The wall that Rei's bed was against had pictures of family, friends, tigers and cats plastered all over it, while the wall opposite was home to a set of mahogany shelves that held about 20 martial arts trophies between them, the surrounding wall covered in certificates and photographs of Rei receiving his prizes. Needless to say, Kai was spellbound. The younger teens had apparently noticed and were quietly giggling at him.

"Like my room?" The neko smirked at the blunette, who nodded, his eyes once more casting a fascinated gaze around the room. "Yeah, thought so."

"I…" Kai wasn't sure what he was even going to say, but he felt that complimenting the cat was a must. "I've… My flat is nothing compared to this."

A look of confusion settled over the three younger teens. "Your flat?" The brown-eyed boy asked. "I thought you said…" Kai shook his head and explained.

"I have a flat, I'm just not allowed there since being relocated." But, this wasn't enough for the boys. The blond spoke up this time.

"If you were relocated then you'd have somewhere to stay…" A single glare from Kai and the voice stopped. The boy seemed to reduce in size as he moved himself in between Rei and Tyson, who both smirked.

"I have nowhere to go." Crimson eyes made their point clear to the quivering green ones before him, whose owner nodded.

"Sorry." Was his quiet, shaky reply. It seemed that Tyson was about to launch into a lecture about keeping out of people's personal lives, but was interrupted by a knock from below their feet. Rei went over to the hatch, yanked it open and let his ladder down. The dark-hair of Rei's mother appeared, and she pulled herself up into her son's bedroom, carrying a small green bag. Once inside, she smiled at the four boys stood in front of her.

"Your food will be ready soon." She then gasped and looked annoyed at Rei. "You're still in your wet clothes!" And she was perfectly right. Golden eyes looked guiltily back at the indignant expression on the woman's face. "Get changed." She demanded. "And get some clothes for your friends if they didn't bring any with them." Her harsh look and tone softened as she turned to Kai. "I've brought up a first aid kit if you need to put anything on your cuts." She smiled, handing the green bag to the slightly embarrassed teenager, then left. As Kai turned around in search of his bag and some dry clothes, his heart skipped a beat. Rei was topless.

"Wow…" He breathed, accidentally out loud. The other three teens all exchanged smirking glances. Kai felt the sweat on his hands. He picked up his bag and sat down, back facing the others. He couldn't believe he'd just done that. Now facing away from his peers, Kai flushed red. 'What a stupid thing to do.' He didn't dare look behind him, though he wouldn't have minded seeing the cat free of all his wet clothes. Trying to push the image of a certain topless neko-jin from his mind, Kai was oblivious to the fact that he too was being watched as he removed his wet clothes, until he heard simultaneous gasps. Angry crimson eyes glared up from underneath the slate hair to the three teens, staring down at him.

"Your, erm…" Rei tried to ignore the fierce glower from Kai. "Your cuts look pretty bad."

'Crap.' He hadn't thought about the fact that the others would see. He was covered in bruises, cuts and almost-dry blood. Ignoring the comment from his cat, Kai quickly pulled a dry t-shirt on to stop the boys from looking at the wounds… His cat? He wished.

"Kai, man, seriously." This time it was Tyson that spoke – his voice had a slight touch of concern. Since when did people care about him? "I think you should at least look, if not let us help you." Although wishing he'd shut up, Kai realised that the navy-haired teen made a good point. "I mean, that's why you came here isn't it? You needed a place to crash – You needed our help?" … A very good point.

"Yes." Kai muttered quietly, thinking. He was damn glad that they'd been there to give him somewhere to sleep that was safe and warm, and that they'd been so nice to him, despite his attitude toward them… He was even glad that he was a complete lunatic and heard voices, otherwise he'd never have found the trio. After rolling all these thoughts around in his head, Kai looked up and noticed the full-length mirror.

"There's some really deep ones on your shoulders…" Max spoke quietly, obviously still feeling a little threatened by the vicious manner of the blunette.

"Right…" He had to face it. Re-stripping his fresh t-shirt, Kai walked apprehensively toward the mirror. His reflection had never been his strong point, the teen had always hated what he saw. His peers were quite right though. "Fuck." He whispered, seeing his black and blue blood-stained body. Upon seeing his injuries, Kai felt the strong, sore aching surge through him, the pain he'd been trying to ignore.

"Kai?" Turning his head, he saw sympathetic golden eyes. After looking into them for a few short seconds, the rest of Rei came into focus. He was holding out a tube of cream for the blunette. Taking it, Kai nodded his appreciation. He was about to apply some, before feeling the wounds on the lower half of his body crying out to him for attention. He winced in pain and stumbled slightly, remembering how he'd been kicked in the shins.

"There's a few on my legs too." Kai explained his wince, then nodded pointedly at the bathroom. The neko nodded, understanding. Grabbing some dry underwear and jeans from his bag, the blunette wandered into the blue & white tiled en-suite, closing the door behind him. Completely stripped of his clothes, Kai sat on the fluffy dark blue rug that covered shiny mahogany floor boards, and began to run the cold, soothing cream into his many cuts. He wouldn't have minded having a shower, but seeing as he hadn't known Rei long – and the fact he'd have to clamber down the ladder to the main house – he decided against asking.

Finishing off with the cream, he pulled his underwear and black jeans on, then stood up. He'd forgotten to take the first aid kit into the bathroom with him, but felt he could do with a bandage covering an exceptionally deep cut on his shoulder where the straps of his bag had dug in when the muggers were trying to take it. He collected up his wet clothes and opened the door, to see Tyson and Max holding a large, hard-looking cushion between them, while Rei – still topless – was practicing his martial arts. Kai watched for a bit, staring at the sleek body of his golden-eyed crush, until the trio saw him.

"Feeling any better?" Spoke said crush, surprisingly not out of breath. Kai nodded.

"Can you bandage that?" The blunette asked, rolling his head toward his shoulder. Eyes fixing worriedly upon the exceptionally deep wound, still leaking a little blood, the neko-jin gave his silent reply of walking straight over to the first aid bag and scuffling around for a bandage. "Thanks." Kai sat at the mahogany desk beside him and scanned the photographs. 'The guy sure has a lot of friends…' He thought, looking from picture to picture as there was always at least one new person in each. "Ow!" Kai's hand just missed Rei as he flung it protectively over his shoulder, glaring at whatever happened to be in his line of sight.

"Sorry, I'll be more gentle." The instant reply made the blunette feel guilty, he hadn't meant to frighten the boy. Moving his hand out of the way, he let Rei carry on, cringing occasionally as the pain shocked him. "Done." Inspecting the bandage in the mirror, Kai was happy with what he saw, so pulled his t-shirt on again.

"Thanks Rei… I didn't mean to snap." The cat laughed at Kai's almost-apology.

"It's okay. I guess food should be ready now, let's go down."

"Yes! Food!" Tyson was through the hatch and down the ladder before Rei had even finished his sentence, and was closely followed by Max. Smirking, the other two teens followed.

"Hungry?" The neko asked. Kai nodded.

"Haven't eaten anything since you saw me eat this morning." The older boy replied. This statement made the amber eyes widen slightly. Rei stopped walking and crimson met gold.

"You should have said, I could have gotten you something earlier." He told the slightly surprised Russian; whose only reply was a shrug. Sighing, the younger teen continued toward the kitchen, watched with desire by his elder, who followed closely behind.

------------------------------------