I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters, please do not sue me.

Fate

Chapter 8

""Talking

''Thoughts

Flashback

Ocean

Kai leaned against the car door and watched as Celestia walked down the sand towards the ocean. Her long skirt playing with the water and wind, her long hair held back by her hand, her bare feet just made contact with the water, the sun beaming down at her. Kai pushed away from his car and walked towards her.

"It's so good to be out of school." Celestia commented blissfully as Kai stood behind her.

"You still have to go back to school in September." Kai replied calmly.

"True, but I'm glad to just get some time off from school, it gets very boring in school." Celestia said and twirled around to face him with a bright smile.

"You get satisfied very easily."

"Is that not a good thing?" A soft smile played on her face as she asked him back.

Kai didn't say anything, he reached out and touched her cheek, a faint blush covered her cheeks immediately. She rolled her eyes away from him. Pulling her in, he captured her lips with his heatedly. His right hand on the back of her neck, pushing her head towards him. His left arm around her waist possessively, behind them, the water flowed around carelessly, sometimes hitting the couple's legs.

Breaking away for air, Celestia backed out of his embrace, still blushing scarlet. She put a hand to her lips and broke her eye contact with Kai. He let her back out of their embrace, his arms slid down her body and landed beside his thighs again. He watched on, amused at how she's still in shock about what happened just a moment ago. Such an innocent girl.

Smiling slightly to himself, he walked over to her and grabbed her free hand, gaining her attention. She looked at him quizzically, he just tightened his hold on her hand and began walking along the side of the ocean slowly, and Celestia followed him quietly, obediently.

Celestia glanced at the profile of Kai, he's her first boyfriend, and he's her first love. There's nothing more to be explained about it. If she can, she just wants to hold his hand like this and walk on forever. If she can, she wants to stay in his arms forever, forever as his possession, never parting with him.

Smiling softly, she stepped closer to him, and laid her head onto his shoulder feeling his pulse. Kai glanced at her surprised; she's usually shy about these sorts of things. Without a word, he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her position, not giving her a chance to escape him.

The late afternoon sun streaming down, casting a shadow of two lovers walking down the lone beach, perhaps fate will shine upon them as well.

Perhaps.

Later

"Thank you Kai, I had a lot of fun today." Celestia smiled as she faced Kai, whom is still inside the car, the engine turning.

Kai looked up at her and shrugged carelessly. "Anywhere else you'd like to go?" Celestia's eyes shone with excitement as she spread a shy smile, Kai raised a corner of his mouth. "Where?" He asked as he leaned back into his seat with his left arm resting on the door of his black convertible. The early evening wind picking up lightly.

"Back to the beach... but this time, I want to stay for the whole night to see the stars and wake up in the morning to see the sunrise." Celestia said dreamily, looking up, she saw Kai's calculating eyes, she showed hesitation in her eyes. "If... that's okay with you."

Kai looked at her before smiling thinly and nodded. "Sure, I'll take you there at the end of August, that's the best time."

Celestia's eyes widened with surprise, a huge smile spread across her face immediately as she clasped her hands together and laughed like a child with a new toy.

"Does it make you that happy?"

Celestia nodded eagerly, unable to contain her excitement. Launching forwards, she wrapped her arms around Kai's neck tightly, her face next to his. "Thank you Kai! Thank you! You are the best! I really love you!"

He turned to her as she pulled away quickly, her face red. Kai looked at her quietly, before reaching up a hand to sooth her hair gently. "I love you too."

Without another word, he stepped onto the gas petal and the car flew off. Celestia looked after his car in shock before she smiled happily and walked back to her house seeming on air.

Yet... how long will this happiness last?

End of Flashback

"I heard that you have another performance tonight." Aeris asked as she sipped her iced cappuccino whilst glancing at Celle.

"Yeah, it's a real short one this time, just a couple of slow songs. So, I'll get to sit through the night." Celle said with a wide smile.

"Sorry, Max and I are the only ones that'll be able to go see you perform tonight." Jamice said with a shrug of shoulders. She then pointed at the two other girls. "These two are too busy with their work."

"That's too bad." Celle wrinkled her nose. Then she perked up again and looked at them. "I know that you've always wanted to be an author, how does it feel to achieve your goal Lianna?"

All three girls looked up at her sharply. Lianna fixed her glasses and lowered her gaze again. "How did you know I've always wanted to be that?"

"Huh?" Celle blinked and then sat back a bit; she glanced at Aeris's equally surprised gaze and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know it just felt right to say."

She then glanced down at her hands, and thought about it. It's true, she doesn't even know Lianna well so where did that come from? Even though it felt right, but...

"Celle." Lianna spoke up, Celle looked up at her. "When is your birthday?"

"It's..." Celle opens her mouth to reply, but frowned when no date came to her mind. "Um..."

"What's wrong?" Aeris turned to her curiously.

Celle laughed nervously and leaned forwards to put her arms on the table. "Would you think it's weird that I've never celebrated my birthday before?"

"To tell you the truth, extremely weird." Jamice said while nodding her head.

Celle shrugged and played with her straw. "It's the truth; I started working in this business when I was about 18. It's really a hectic life style, and I don't think I've ever celebrated my birthday."

"That's harsh." Jamice said sympathetically.

"Then what about before you were 18?" Lianna pressed on, her eyes hidden from everyone.

"Before I was 18?" Celle tilted her head and concentrated on it. "Um... now that I think about it, I don't remember much from before I was 18. You know, there are certain pictures and things from my... no, a childhood that seems like mine. However, I don't really know if they are mine or not. You know, sometimes your parents remember something that happened in your childhood, but you don't remember. However, they keep telling you about it over and over again until you feel as if you remember it, but you really don't. That's what it feels like before I was 18. You could say... it almost feels as if I was in a coma from birth until I was 18. It's almost as if my life started at the age of 18." She then looked at all three of them and smiled carelessly. "Did that make any sense?"

"Perfect sense." Lianna said, suddenly her eyes gleamed.

Celle blinked and moved back a bit, she's never seen Lianna like this. Jamice just gave a short chuckle and leaned her head onto her hands to look at Lianna through half lidded eyes. "What arises within the great author this time?"

"Yeah Lianna, what makes you so excited all of a sudden?" Aeris teased as well and looked towards Celle. "Lianna here is never interested in much, but as soon as it's a good topic for her novel, she's very much into it."

Celle nodded in understanding and looked back at Lianna again, this time the younger girl smiled and leaned back to look at all three of them squarely. "Nothing, just gave me an idea for a new novel. That's why I was excited."

"See, I told you." Aeris shook her head and leaned back onto her chair comfortably.

Lianna smiled but said nothing. She does feel that it's a good topic for a new novel, but...

There's that.

And then there's something else to this as well.

Aeris's Car

Both of them waved as Jamice drove past them with Celle in her car, Aeris sat in the car and watched on as Jamice's red car stopped at a red light and turned right. She then turned and wanted to say something to Lianna, but found her on the phone already.

"Malarin, it's me."

Aeris looked at her in surprise and placed both of her arms onto the steering wheel and looked at Lianna, whom has her eyes directed downwards and is talking to Malarin.

"I need to tell you something, can you come by my house in about half an hour?"

Aeris glanced down and frowned mentally, she then laid her head on top of her arms and looked out the front of her car at the people passing by. She knew something was wrong when Lianna suddenly took an interest in Celle's life. Lianna's always been quiet and doesn't ask many questions. It's a surprise that Tyson actually went out with her before. After all, Tyson's the kind of person that can never stand the quietness. However to be able to go out with her, he must have had real feelings for her.

Then, what happened between them?

"Bye."

Aeris turned to look at her as Lianna hung up the phone. "You're going to tell her about Celle?"

"Yes." Lianna nodded curtly.

Aeris sighed and leaned onto her arms even more. "Why, Lianna? You're not the type of person that would be interested in other people's lives."

"It's a mystery, and I love solving a mystery. It's just like a good book; you just can't put it down until the very end when everything's presented to you." Lianna said calmly and turned to look at Aeris as well.

Aeris sighed, and this time, a frown is visible on her face as she spoke. "Lianna..."

"I'm not doing anything that'd harm anyone." Lianna intersected immediately.

"True." Aeris looked down again, somehow, she just doesn't feel that this is right.

"Aeris." She looked up when hearing her name. Lianna looked at Aeris seriously for a moment before narrowing her eyes at her. "You miss Celestia, don't you?"

"Of course." Aeris nodded immediately.

"I miss her too, and this is just something that I have to do to let everyone face reality."

"What do you mean?"

"Lately, everyone's so interested in Celle and her life. Why's that? It's because she looks exactly like Celestia. So, we're all getting our hopes up, because as much as we want to deny it, a little part of all of us want to believe that she's actually Celestia, and that this is just a trick or a joke." Lianna then sighed and closed her eyes, pausing in her speech. Aeris didn't say anything and just waited for her to continue on.

Lianna then opened her eyes and turned them towards the busy streets outside. This time, her eyes carried a more faraway look than anything. "I want to know if my feeling is correct. I do believe that somehow Celle and Celestia are the same person, but we don't have proof. The good thing is that Malarin's also interested. And from last night's conversation, you can tell that we're on the same track. I think with us working together, we can get to the bottom of this."

Lianna then torn her eyes away from the rest of the world and returned them onto Aeris again. "I do know that this is indecent and is very bad to do, but... maybe none of you know this, I miss Celestia as well. I don't want this Celle to get our hopes up and destroy them right on the spot. I'm doing this to protect all of us from what's going to happen if we sink even more into this." Then she paused again and this time, she looked at Aeris pleadingly. "Aeris, can you understand that?"

Time passed by and they just looked at each other. Aeris is processing everything that Lianna had just said to her and is trying to sort out how this will change everything. The question is: does she really want to find out the truth? Does she really want to know definitely that Celle has nothing to do with Celestia?

Aeris then broke their eye contact and buried her face in her arms and just sat there. Lianna didn't say anything in the midst of all this, she knows that this is hard, and she has made this decision over a long period of serious thinking.

"I guess you're right." Aeris said at length, her voice muffled by her arms. Lianna turned to look at her.

"Aeris?"

"I guess you're right. And besides, that stuff about her information is really strange anyways. Worst of all, she doesn't even know her own birthday." Aeris sniffed and sat back up, with her head titled up towards the roof of her car. "I want to find Celestia, and pretending that someday Celle's going to suddenly turn into Celestia is not going to work." She then took in a deep breath and stopped talking.

The car was silent again.

Then she blinked and returned her head to the normal state and looked straight ahead of her. "Lianna, I hope you and Malarin will find something that'll... hopefully give us some new light." She then turned to look at Lianna and smiled. "We should go now before we're late for your little meeting with Malarin."

Lianna looked at her for a minute before smiling and nodding as well.

Casino Heaven

Standing up on the stage, Celle smiled at the crowd and bowed her head deeply. The performance has gone by effortlessly, and it was an easy performance as well. The audience wasn't its best, but that's okay.

She rose up her head, her smile still plastered on her face. Scanning the crowd, she noticed Kai, Max and Jamice standing at the very back of the room. Noticing her stare, Jamice waved at her and smiled as well. Celle's smile deepened as she felt herself walking down the stage and heading towards them.

"Miss Ran, I thought that performance was wonderful." Some guy said as she passed by him.

"Miss Ran, wonderful voice. It's as if you're an angel from the heavens."

"Miss Ran, it was a pleasure to hear you sing."

The comments went on and on every time she would pass a guy. She smiled and nodded for all of them, knowing that they'll just be the same praises anyways.

"How much for a night, girl?"

That comment made her stop in her tracks, her mind whirled around, what did he just ask her? Blinking a couple of time, she turned to her left and saw a man in his late 40s looking at her with a frivolous grin on his face. She looked him over and raised an eyebrow coldly. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, how much do you want for sex?" The man's bold. Very bold.

Celle's eyes narrowed at him and she thought of many ways of killing him. "Sir, I'm a singer. Not a hooker."

"Oh please! Singers these days will do anything to get popular; you're no different from them." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card and gave it to her. "Here."

Celle took it without breaking her glare, and glanced down at it. It says he's the son of some music production company. With a smirk, she looked back at him and torn up the card without a second thought.

"Why you little!" The man stood up and glared down at her.

"Sorry sir, I don't sleep around to get popular like those worthless stars. I will become a world famous singer because of my voice and, of course, my looks. Though, I have no intention of sleeping with someone like you."

"You little bitch!" His hand reached out, wanting to encircle one of her wrists. However, someone was faster than him. A strong grip was fastened around his arm and stopped his out stretched hand.

"Sir, please calm yourself."

Celle looked towards her right and saw Kai standing there holding onto the guy's arm. Jamice placed her arm around Celle's shoulders and looked at her with concern. "Are you all right?"

Celle nodded, though still a bit dazed.

"Jamice, take Celle to her rest room. We'll handle things here." Max said, standing beside Kai, whom still has an iron grip on the man's arm.

Jamice nodded and urged Celle along. Celle turned her head and caught Kai's eyes, she simply smiled in gratitude and walked off with Jamice. They walked down the isles of casino machines and mingled in with the noisy crowd.

However, over the crowd of people, Celle distantly heard Kai's voice claiming that she's his woman and that other people should keep their hands off of her. Not knowing if that was her imagination or not, a smile lit up her face none the less.

Rest Room

"Here, some water." Jamice handed her a cup of water and sat down directly across from her.

Celle smiled and accepted it in her hands, her fingers curled around the cup and looked into it to see her reflection. She wonders how she looked to that guy out there. Did she really look like a hooker to him?

"Celle, forget about what that guy said. You're nothing like a hooker at all." Jamice's voice suddenly rang out and it was just the answer that she was hoping to hear.

Celle looked up at her surprised, can she read minds?

Jamice smiled and leaned onto the back of the chair and looked at her. "You must have been scared, huh?"

"No." Celle chuckled and played the cup in her hands. "Just mad, that's all."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Jamice laughed as well and they both enjoyed the moment of comfortable silence that followed after. "However, Celle."

Celle looked up again, hearing the serious tone to her voice.

"Kai... back there, Kai said you're his woman." Jamice said, perhaps a little bit worried.

Celle sensed the worry in her voice, though she still couldn't help but form a smile on her face.

"You're happy about that, huh?" Jamice asked, not expecting an answer from that, as it's such a rhetorical question. "I know you're happy, but... I just have to remind you of the press that's going to follow after his comment."

Celle's smile dropped as the pictures of those reporters and the memories of articles flashed in her mind. Right. The press. No way are they going to let this one slip out of their hands. The singer and her boss, for the time being, falls in love with each other, isn't that such a romantic story? That's the good side, but there's also the bad side. She knows that some press will take this negatively and start talking about how she probably seduced Kai into many things.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she took a sip of the water, it's cold. She lowered the cup and once again starred into the small reflection. She wonders how Kai sees her.

"Celle."

Celle looked up, Jamice shifted in her chair and leaned forwards to close their gap. Celle then felt a pair of warm hands wrap around hers, the warmth radiated almost instantly.

"Celle, no matter what happens, we'll be there for you." Jamice said sincerely. Not just because she looks like Celestia, but she believes that no one should take the press on by themselves.

Celle looked at Jamice touched, and then she smiled and nodded like a little girl. Jamice squeezed her hands before letting go, the warmth from her hands successfully transferred to Celle's hands. Jamice then stood up and looked down at her with an understanding look in her eyes. She's like an older sister.

"I'll leave you to change, I'll be outside if you need me."

Sometimes, saying a couple of nice words really brightens up someone else's day. Maybe Celle's not that bad. Jamice thought circled around that as she stepped out of the rest room and closed the door behind her. Looking up, her eyes widened a bit in surprise. Not far off, Max and Kai are talking as well, probably waiting for them. She picked up her feet and walked closer towards them. The two males noticed her and gave her a small greeting.

"How was everything?" She asked as she got close enough so she won't have to talk loudly.

Max ran a hand through his hair and looked at Kai, whom is leaning on the wall with the top two buttons of shirt unbuttoned and his suit jacket slung over his left shoulder. "It's settled, but the press is definitely going to have a field day with this."

Jamice nodded slowly and thought back to her conversation with Celle. "I warned Celle about it as well."

Then the three of them were silent again until Kai opened his eyes and pushed away from the wall. "Don't worry, I'll deal with it." Then his eyes settled behind Jamice and Max. Both of them turned and saw Celle walking towards them slowly, holding her jacket in both of her hands, she looked at them.

"I'll drive her home." Jamice offered, knowing that this is the best way out of all this.

Mansion

"The master said that he'll be late tonight." A maid informed Malarin just as she picked up something that came out of the fax machine.

Malarin turned around to look at the maid and smiled. "Thank you." The maid bowed and left the room quietly. Malarin looked after her as she closed the door and returned to the piece of paper again.

The master's rarely home early; she's already used to this.

Then, walking over to the sofa in the room, she sat down and just starred in front of her. Her face expressionless, but her eyes are shining dangerously. It's as if she's preparing to leave for a war.

Then she turned to her left and picked up the phone. Looking down at the piece of paper she dialed a long number and waited.

"Hello? Is this the Ran residence?" Malarin then paused and waited for an answer, soon a smile appeared on her face. "This is Malarin Quintilla; I'm calling to discuss something about your daughter, Celle."

TBC...

Thanks for reading, please R&R.