Chapter 3: Advice and Coffee

One gloved hand held heavy gray bangs aside, the other pressing a cool, wet compress to a bloodied forehead. Kai had always been praised for his calm, cool demeanorin battle- He had more self-control than most people Ray had ever seen. What, then, could posses him to randomly stop on his way to the Dojo and bang his head against a tree until it bled?

Hey, that's what Ray wanted to know.

"Kai?"

The dull-eyed Hiwatari said nothing. Ray grimaced. Since he had pulled Kai away from using his head as an axe to chop down the unfortunate tree, the Russian had been silent and blank-faced, as if... he wasn't quite all there. Picking the bark and splinters from his friend's head had been interesting, to say the least.

"Kai..." The amber-eyed teen repeated, unsure how to approach Kai's distress tactfully. "Sit down, here's a park bench." Mechanically, Kai obeyed. Ray sighed. "Gods, how should I say this...?"

Kai flinched, his first real expression since entering his doll-like state. He bit his lip for a second, looking up at the neko-jin with haunted eyes. "Ray, I..."

Ray leaned in. "Yes?"

"I..."

He sweatdropped. "Yes?"

"I..."

"..." Ray flopped onto the bench beside his mentally void comrade.

"I... don't-" The neko-jin sat up, nodding eagerly. "I..."

Ray tipped over, saying aloud, "What happened to the days when you were direct, short, and to the point, Kai?"

"I... don't have an excuse."

"What?"

"I don't have an excuse!" He snapped. Ah, it seems the brain damage was only temporary. "What do I say, 'I was just in the neighborhood'?" Kai's lip curled in a sneer. "Yeah, that'll work just great."

Ray blinked, then shrugged. "You're Kai, you show up randomly. No one really questions these things."

The glare Kai was brandishing may have killed a mortal man, but as it was, Ray had seen it a thousand times and so remained unimpressed.

"Come on, Kai... Just be smooth." He advised.

Kai stared at the neko-jin in a very strange blend of confusion, annoyance and wonder. It was as if he wasn't used to having so much emotion on his face, and it hurt a little. Finally, he echoed, "'Smooth'?"

"Smooth." Ray made a strange, 'smoothing' hand gesture. "Confident. Calm. Put on a face and make it look easy, even when you're sweating and shaking in your boots. You do it all the time in the Beystadium!"

"...Smooth." Kai repeated, arching a thick gray brow.

Ray wore a large, fanged grin as he made the gesture again. "Smooth."

"Smooth."

"Smooth." Ray's grin widened. "Even when you screw up and accidentally say you're going to meet your crush later this night, when you know he's got an early curfew and won't be able to."

Kai paused, then his mouth drew up into something that might have been a smile. "...I see."

"You're welcome. " Ray replied to the unspoken 'thank you'. "...Just take it from 'The Master'-" He spread his hands out again. "Be smooth."

Kai's bangs fell back into his face, hiding the both that he had a large bump on his forehead, and that he had cringed at Ray's action. "...Tyson won't be there when we get there- he's out buying peach buns somewhere."

Ray's eyes glinted. "If he's not, we'll wait for him. There's more of an advantage when the target is off guard anyway."

Ray grinned. Kai remained, for the most part, motionless.

Finally, he said, "Smooth?"

"Okay, now you're just trying to procrastinate."

Sitting at his table, Tala absently wondered what the puppy thought he was going to do- Eat him? Mainly, the redhead was reading Harry Potter and trying to appear calm. Occasionally, his hand would dart out to snatch a piece of his chocolate chip muffin, which Max had insisted he buy along with his usual, a mocha frappuchino with carmel syrup. He had mumbled something about Tala being more endorphin-deprived than Kai. Whatever.

Glancing at the blond, Tala repressed the desire to roll his eyes. Max Tate was disguised in the usual way- dark shades, matching brown hat and trench coat, and an extremely outdated newspaper from the fifties. It was up to him, he supposed, to keep the very perceptive Kenny from noticing. No big deal, not that it was any more pressure for Tala.

I need a cigarette, Tala found himself thinking, despite the fact that he had never smoked, and never would. Probably.

The fiery-haired teen adjusted his shirt for the umpteenth time. For this special occasion, he had chosen not to wear his usual orange-white-blue, but a white dress shirt and black trousers.

Get a grip, he mentally chastised himself, it's only coffee!

Across the shop, Max, in his ridiculous disguise, gave him a thumbs up.

The redhead felt his eye begin to twitch. Was he that obviously nervous that the witless puppy was trying to encourage him?


Oh, crap.

His whole plan was to keep up his intimidation of the blond, making it hard for the boy to keep his scores properly! Tala scowled at his muffin, fighting the urge to... do something incredibly violent...

Something squeaked. The irate redhead looked up to find...

Kenny. Looking very distraught, asking, "Am I late? I thought you said ten?"

Tala glanced at his watch, standing up (almost knocking over his chair in the process). "It's nine fifty. You're early." Kenny still looked worried. "So, calm down, I didn't have anything else to do, so I came early too."

"Oh, I see..." There was a small pause, during which Kenny shuffled his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Tala could see the disguised Max pull out a stopwatch.

The Russian gestured at the chair across from his. "Would you, uh, like to sit down?" He forced a smile. He hoped it didn't look as awkward as it felt.

"Oh!" Kenny turned red. "Uh, sure!" Tala found himself arching an eyebrow as Kenny fumbled into his chair. With a little more grace, Tala also sat down.

Another pause, this one not so strained. Kenny's smile was uncomfortable-looking too, which cheered Tala up slightly. On one hand, it meant he wasn't the only one feeling out of place. On the other, it meant he wasn't a very good date. Well. This wasn't a date, but still!

"Nice weather we've been having."

"Yeah..." Kenny twiddled his thumbs, making the redhead want to beat himself senseless. They were talking about the weather. That only happens in those bad teen flicks, when the kids don't know what to say to eachother!

"Um, I have to say, I was surprised when you asked me out yesterday..."

Tala and Kenny's actual conversation:

The redhead walked up to him with a simple, "Hey."

Kenny, busy tapping on Dizzy, gave a small, "Hi!", and returned to his very important work of doing who-knows-what.

Tala seemed to scrutinize him for a second, then, "Are you getting enough sleep?"

The brunette looked up. "Huh?"

"You look tired." Tala explained.

Kenny adjusted the position of his glasses on his head quite unnecessarily, and Tala found himself thinking the gesture was strangely... cute. "Well...I have been really busy with this new prototype, but don't worry, I'm getting my sleep."

Tala stared at his shoes. "I just... thought you looked tired. Maybe you need to take a break."

Kenny shrugged.

"Like, tomorrow. We can get coffee or something... you and me." The redhead kicked the ground. "Want to?"

Kenny nodded agreeably. "Uh, sure. Why not?"

"At ten, then?"

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

How...awkward.

To the present, Tala was the one shrugging, trying not to look too startled by the words 'asked me out'.

"Well, like I said, you looked tired." Inside, the redhead groaned. Not that again... "And, uh, I wanted to talk to you."

He had the feeling that beneath that mop of brown hair, Kenny was blinking in surprise. "About what?"

Tala repressed the urge to push back the brunette's hair back and find out. "You. I wanted to get to know you better."

Kenny turned red again. "Ah, I'm not very interesting..."

Tala's eyebrows rose. "Yes, you are. You're the only one in the Bladebreakers with a brain."

Kenny was blinking again, he was sure. "Kai-"

"Like I said," Tala smiled again. Well, okay, it was more of a smirk. "You're the only one in the Bladebreakers with a brain." Tala snickered at his half-joke (Not that he was saying Kai was brainless, but the guy HAD done some pretty dumb things in his time...). Kenny made a small 'Oh', then gave a small chuckle.

His smile grew. "Hey, I didn't notice they were playing music...It's MingMing's 'Yuzurenai Negai'!" (Desire Cannot Be Conceded)

Tala listened, looking thoughtful. "Hm... yeah... It's all right, if a little repetitive. I like 'Yakusoku Wa Iranai' better." (I Don't Need Promises)

The brunette made a strange face. "You like MingMing?"

"Sort of..." Actually, her songs are really good for dan- "Do you?"

Kenny broke into a brilliant smile. Tala had to wonder what he had gotten himself into...

Thirty minutes later, Tala knew more about pop idol MingMing than he had ever desired...and he was plotting her demise behind an expression of mild interest. Not only because someone this horribly annoying should not be allowed to taint the face of the planet, but also because Kenny was absolutely spellbound. Well, this sitting and listening thing was okay- Kenny seemed fine with talking on and on with a few 'Uh-huh...'s as response, and Tala was definitely beating Kai in length now. Plus, this gave Tala time to think...

Earlier he had been wavering between light brown and deep blue, but now he was thinking Kenny's eye color should be more of a nice purple-y blue. Or a sort of lavender.

The brunette stopped abruptly, clamping his mouth shut tight. Tala arched an eyebrow and glanced around. "What's wrong?"

"I'm...boring... you, aren't I?"

Tala blinked. Sending into a murderous rage, perhaps, but boring? No. It was very amusing watching Kenny chatter so animatedly- he just didn't like what the boy was chattering about.

"No, you're not. Go on, who was her last album dedicated to?"

See?

He HAD been paying attention.

Sort of.

If a little unwillingly.

Kenny squeaked. Yes, squeaked. Tala smirked slightly as the younger boy asked unbelievingly, "You were listening to me?"

The redhead's smirk grew to full, and he reached out to tap Kenny's glasses lightly, once. "Well, of course..."

Kenny suddenly found his own drink (a carmel frappuchino with mocha syrup he had gotten up and bought) very interesting. "I see... um, yeah, MingMing-" Tala's eye twitched. "-Only had a dedication on the second page, to a 'very special someone', and the message 'Lets battle again sometime'. Some fans believe it to be one of her old BEGA team-members... I, myself, don't know who it could be."

Was it bad that Tala was immensely relieved to find out that the blue midget had a 'special someone'?

Heh.

Kenny adjusted his glasses for the fifth time that day, and the redhead wasn't tired of it yet. "Um... you know, her sixteenth CD is out." Tala tried not to growl. A full SIXTEEN awful CDs had been inflicted upon this poor world? He might as well slit his wrists now. "I have it reserved. I was going to go get it later today, and, um..."

Tala raised his eyebrows. "What?"

And that was how Tala got ended up at the mall - Kenny had mumbled something like "you want come with?" that Tala had to ask him to repeat twice. The amount of MingMing gaggling fans at the record store made his stomach churn almost as bad as when he was reading the latest Harry Potter- Rowling had gone around the bend, and it showed. Five books worth of character development, down the tubes. Ah, well, at least he got both over with.

Kenny looked like he wanted to go home and listen to it, but they were at the mall! To Tala, at least, that meant one thing- they had to go to the arcade. That had been fun – Kenny was quite good at Ms. Packman, but Tala kicked his ass at Galaga.

Kenny was currently immersed in F Zero X, a vibrating racing game. Tala glanced at the other games in mild interest- They had 'Mortal Combat', of course, and a -

"Oh my effing-" Tala cut himself off, an 'anger-mark' vein throbbing.

Kenny blinked, climbing out of the Blue Falcon's car. "What's wrong, Tala?" Absently, he recognized that he liked how Kenny said his name, but for the most part he was focused on one thing-

DDR.

'MingMing Style' DDR.

'That...That... infidel!" he internally seethed. As if capturing the innocent Kenny's attention with her evil seductive charms wasn't enough, the siren also had to taint the sacred art of Dance Dance Revolution? At his side, his fists clenched.

"Hey, look..." As it was, he barely registered Kenny exclaiming on what a great idea it was. He did notice, however, when Kenny decided to 'give it a go'. Kenny... had more time on his hands than he let on, or something, because he was quite...good. But did he glance over his shoulder at Tala, for a second?

Tala felt like cracking his knuckles, but refrained as he asked Kenny if he could try now? He could do this! He had already admitted that her songs were good to dance to... If Kenny was good, then Tala was, well...better. A small crowd had formed to watch Tala masterfully shake his arse to the beat. After a few perfect scores, Tala stepped down, satisfied that he had beaten the evil songstress at her own game. Literally.

"Wow." Kenny looked impressed, and that made Tala's pride grow. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"Maybe..." Tala smirked.

Kenny and Tala bid company short after that, as Kenny did have to work on that prototype. Though, Tala had proposed they go out again, for lunch next time. Kenny had smiled and agreed. Tala's gaze remained on Kenny's shrinking profile for a second, before the redhead spun away, determined to not be like Kai, who watched wistfully and was unable to do anything.

It was then Tala was aware of someone watching him. He turned around again to face...

Max Tate, not saying anything but wearing a big, goofy smile on his face. Tala's eyes narrowed into distrustful slits.

"What?"

Max's grin remained firm. "Oh, I was just thinking how human you acted just then."

Tala quirked an eyebrow. His left, to be exact. Boy, was he doing that a lot today. "Well, what am I supposed to be, a robot?"

The blond blader sweatdropped. "Uh..."

Tala rolled his eyes. "Later, then."

"Buh-bye!" Max said cheerfully, over his shoulder as he dashed off. He ducked into a phone booth, and Tala got a disturbing mental image of 'Super Max' before he shook it off and headed home himself.

"Where is Max? He said it was 'urgent' when he called..."

Golden eyes roamed over the various park benches and the fountain. No Maxie in sight. Ray ran his fingers through his bangs again- He probably looked horrible, and it was all Kai's fault! Maybe Max wouldn't notice...

"You're late." Came a deep voice (though it sounded like the person was faking it) behind him. Ray jumped, startled.

"Max! You scared me!"

"Hee hee, it was fun!" Max pulled off his shades (why did he even have them, Ray had to wonder...) and sat on a bench. Smiling, he informed, "I snuck up on Tala too."

"You did?" The raven-haired blader looked over his blond comrade with concern. "You didn't get hurt, right?"

"Why would I be hurt?" Max asked, blinking innocently.

Ray frowned. "Well, yesterday you seemed pretty convinced that he would kill you." Max blushed, and the neko-jin's mouth slowly curved into a smile as the boy recalled,

"Oh, yeah... Well, Tala's only human, Ray." Max winked. "And it showed." Before Ray could ask what the heck that meant, the blond went on, "So, how'd things go with Kai?"

"...Not good." Ray rubbed his cheek.

The blond blinked, and pulled Ray down beside him. "What happened to your face?" His fingertips gently stroked the large, purple bruise growing there.

"Kai got mad and punched me." Ray informed, unconsciously leaning into Max's touch.

Max winced in sympathy. "Why'd he do that?"

"Misplacement."

"Huh?"

"Kai wanted to ask Tyson out, but all he ended up doing was challenging him to battle... Again." Ray sighed deeply. "Apparently this has happened several times before."

"I see. Poor Kai."

"...The battle's tomorrow...Kai wanted Tyson to be at his best, or something." Another sigh. "Now, what was so urgent that I had to run out here all of a sudden?"

Max grinned. "Oh! I wanted to tell you- did you know Tala can dance?"

"That's a... disturbing thought."

"You didn't have to see it!" They both laughed, imagining the fierce redhead's response to that comment, though Max's was distinctly nervous. "...You know," The blond started, smiling, "Kai can still make it work."

Ray moved his long tail of hair over his shoulder. "What work?"

"The battle. Just because they're there to battle doesn't mean they can't do anything afterwards. Kai can invite Tyson for lunch or whatever." The blond chuckled. "Tyson never turns down a free meal!"

"Mm," was Ray's short response.

"Speaking of going to lunch afterward, I know it's a little late, but do you want to get some with me?" Max's puppy-dog eyes were out and at full power. "Please, Ray-chan?"

"Sure, sure..." Ray seemed somewhat distracted at the moment.

Then there was just one more thing for Max to deal with...

"Ray-chan," Max finally stopped his caress of the neko-jin's cheek. "Did you just purr?"

End Chapter