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

Fate

Chapter 18

""Talking

''Thoughts

Flashback

"Kai... you have to go to work now." Celestia called out to a sleeping Kai, it's 5 something in the morning, the first job that he has is already calling him.

Kai groaned and turned his head away, pulling the blanket up to cover his face from the light. Celestia looked at him and pouted, then without hesitation, she climbed on top of him and straddled his waist, while pulling down the cover again, her hands on both sides of his face, forcing him to face her. "Kai, wake up, or else you'll be late."

Kai sighed and stopped shifting around, and then finally, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. Without a word, he grabbed her waist and pulled her down into a tight embrace. Celestia blinked and leaned into him. "I don't want to go. I'm tired."

Celestia's eyes dimmed at the fatigue in his voice, he has been going since 5 something in the morning and coming back 11 something at night, the entire day, he's out. He has 3 jobs, one more tiring than the other. She placed her hands on his shoulders and closed her eyes. "If you really don't want to go, then don't go." He's supposed to be in his mansion enjoying the finest of the finest right now.

Kai opened his eyes and blinked up at the light, without another word, he flipped Celestia over, so he's on top of her. Celestia looked at him surprised, a blush crept up onto her face, her legs dropped from his waist. He held onto her wrists, pinning them above her head, they just looked at each other.

Even though they've been living with each other for about a month now, even though they've been sleeping on the same bed every single night, he hasn't done anything to her. She found that strange. She's ready to give herself to him whenever he wants to... but... he hasn't done anything that crossed the line yet.

Leaning down, his pressed a kiss to her forehead gently, her eyes closed, enjoying his lips on her skin. "Good morning Celestia." He murmured softly, then with a huff he flipped off of her and half stumbled towards the bathroom.

Celestia sat up on the bed and looked after him, touched does not even fit her emotions right now.

Afternoon

"Was that Kai?' Malarin asked as Kenny stepped into the car again, with her trying to get a better look at the factory outlet that they're parked beside.

"Yeah." Kenny answered shortly as the car rolled forwards.

"What is he doing here?" Malarin asked while she sat back.

"His new work place."

Malarin looked at Kenny surprised, the world famous Kai is working manually in a constructing place. Can he take it? "Maybe... I can help?" She muttered out loud.

"No." Kenny objected immediately, and turned to Malarin. "He won't appreciate it."

Malarin looked at his serious face and nodded slowly, then she turned to look right in front of her. "Now that Celestia has moved in with Kai, how's Ray?"

"He was drunk." Kenny heaved a sigh. "Aeris stayed behind to take care of him."

"Maybe it's a good chance for Aeris and Ray." Malarin said thoughtfully.

Night

"See you later Kai." Someone yelled out behind Kai, he paused and looked behind his shoulder and nodded curtly. Turning around, he continued his way home.

Turning the corner, he saw a familiar figure waiting for him under the street light. She looked up at him as he walked closer to her.

"Kai, are you finished?" She asked sweetly.

He nodded, taking a hold of her hand, they began walking home again. "Why are you here today?"

"I finished my homework early; I thought you'd like some company." Celestia explained and leaned into him, breathing out warm air, taking in crisp chilly air. "It's a bit cold, you need a new jacket." She said naturally and pulled at the sleeves of his jacket.

Kai looked at her and let go of her hand, instead he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gathered her closer to him. "We'll go shopping this weekend."

Celestia smiled and nodded, laying her head on his shoulder, she sighed heavily. Kai glanced over at him. "Something wrong?"

"No, it's just that I feel bad." Celestia glanced down quietly. "Maybe I should get a job as well; you're the only one that seems to be supporting this family. And, soon, I'll have to go to university..." She trailed off looking down at the ground.

Kai looked at her thoughtfully before he sighed and looked up at the sky. "Don't worry about it; I can support us even if you go university."

Celestia looked at his profile and smiled gratefully, she touched her forehead against Kai's face. "Kai... I love you." She whispered softly. "I'm so happy right now that even if I died tomorrow, I'll be content with my life."

What can she say? It doesn't matter if they'll have to live on a tight budget forever in their life, it doesn't matter if she can't go to university, as long as she's with Kai, she'll be happy, forever.

Yet...

How long can this happiness go on?

End of Flashback

Malarin and Kenny stood off to the side when Celle made her announcement. Kenny's eyes popped out immediately and he searched for Ray, strangely, he was no where in sight.

Malarin torn her eyes away from Celle and glanced down towards the ground instead. Marriage. Another couple that wanted to get married. What did they think marriage was? It wasn't some kind of game that they could play and then stop when they'd get bored of it.

"I can't believe this!" Kenny exclaimed under his breath.

Malarin glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and pondered on her decision. Then she smiled a bit and turned her head to face him. "So, what are you predictions?"

Kenny gave an ugly laugh and looked at Malarin with amusement in his eyes. "At this rate, I can't even tell what's going to happen in the next few seconds."

Malarin's smile deepened. She agreed with him whole-heartedly. Though, she was also reaching the stage where she thought she could figure out the whole mystery behind Celle and Celestia. She was at a point where everything would have came together and made sense of them. Just like a puzzle that would piece itself together.

"Kenny, are you free tomorrow?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'd like for you to meet someone."

"Who?"

A smile graced Malarin's face and she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "You'll know once you meet him."

Next Day

"What are you doing here?"

Aeris turned her head mechanically from the windows and starred up at Ray with dull eyes. She just starred at him silently, then without a word, she turned back to the windows again. She didn't know quite what to say yet. Actually, she wasn't even sure why she was here and not at work. However, her newly formed engagement and supposed wedding plans gave her excuses to get out of work more than she had to.

Ray studied her for a while longer before he pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from her. He was now engaged and also planned on getting married. The news Celle delivered last night was like a slap in the media's face, every single newspaper and magazine were filled with their photos at the party. Thank goodness they left early.

"Aeris?"

"Congratulations on your engagement." She finally said at length, but was still not looking at him.

"Thanks." He said quietly.

His restaurant was unusually quiet this morning. There were only a few customers around. Their voices were hushed and low so that they wouldn't interfere with each other's conversations. The soft classical music at the background could be heard throughout the blood-pumping parts and then ignored during the mellow parts.

"Ray." He looked up at the calling of his name and looked at Aeris, whom was still looking outside the window. "I love you."

Ray's eyes widened and his body tensed. He could not believe what he had just heard. Before he knew what to say, Aeris continued on. "I'm not sure if I ever told you that before. And I was just wondering to myself if that'd change your mind about anything." She admitted and turned to look at Ray.

Ray took in the woman in front of him. Never had he expected an outburst like that from her. Then again, it couldn't be called an outburst because he already knew about her harboured feelings. Though, when he heard her confessing to him, it was still mind-numbing.

Aeris smiled and took a sip of her tea. "Wonderful tea, it's just like the one you used to make when we'd go over to your house." She said to no one in particular.

"Aeris, I..."

"Ray, I'll always be your friend. You can rely on me whenever you want." She said suddenly and cut him off.

Once again, he was stunned by her words, and was speechless. Aeris then smiled and stood up from the table, her chair scraped against the floor of the restaurant. She then looked at Ray again, this time, she memorized his every feature.

"I need to go now, bye." With a final smile, she grabbed her bag and slowly turned away from Ray.

This is... my good-bye.

Bookstore

"Sorry to make you go all this way." Lianna nodded her head towards Kai as they exited the bookstore and got back into Kai's car.

Kai shook his head and started the car.

"I hope Aeris doesn't mind." Lianna said and watched Kai's reaction.

"I'm sure she doesn't mind." Kai commented and the car leapt onto the busy street.

"Will you attend Ray's wedding?" Lianna asked but her eyes were directed out the window.

Kai didn't answer for a minute before they came to a stop in front of a red light and he leaned against his hand that was propped up against the window. "Of course, why wouldn't I go?"

"I see."

The green lights came back on, and Kai stepped onto the gas petal. "That's enough about me. What happened between you and Tyson?"

"Nothing happened. Nothing was going to happen anyways." She said shortly.

"I agree, that idiot was no where near your league anyways." Kai said mockingly.

Lianna allowed a smile and she leaned back into the seat. "That's not true. Tyson has matured throughout these years... his progress is definitely amazing."

Then they were quiet yet again. Until finally, Lianna sighed and turned to look at Kai's profile seriously. "Kai, I don't think you should let Celle and Ray get married."

"I should? What do I have to do with anything?"

"Kai, you know Celle still loves you!"

Kai kept his eyes on the road and didn't make a sound. Lianna knew that he heard her statement and knew that his brain was working for some sort of an answer.

"Kai, do you still love Celestia?"

Kai glanced at Lianna and gave her a look, she understood it right away and smiled while she shook her head. "Okay, that was a stupid question." Then she dropped her smile and looked at Kai again. "Kai... I don't know what's going on between all of us anymore. The couples are so messed up it's even worse than those soap operas you see on T.V. Do you think any of you is going to get true happiness from this?"

"It's just marriage."

"Marriage is supposed to happen between two people that are in love. However, neither of the couples right now have love between them."

"Ray loves Celle." Kai said slowly, as if he was choking on those words.

"And she loves you. You love Celestia, but are going to marry her best friend, whom is in love with Ray. Oh yeah, definitely a simple relationship."

Kai glanced at Lianna again, this time throwing her a nasty look. Lianna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She then looked out the window at the looming clouds with sunny streaks in between them. The forecast is going to change today.

"I don't believe that marriage should be about responsibilities and whatnot. I believe that marriage should be between two people that are in love with each other. Like you and Celestia, for example. Right now, Celle is the replacement for Celestia in everyone's eyes. However, Malarin and I just feel uneasy about this whole thing. We believe that there's more than meets the eye in this situation, and we believe that not everything is skin deep." Lianna started, she knew that Kai was listening.

"We could see how much Celle was in love with you, and for her to pull her love away for you in this short amount of time is impossible. She's marrying Ray out of revenge and bitterness. Ray's allowing her to do this because he still sees her as Celestia, even though he's convinced himself that he sees her as Celle. Aeris is marrying you because she doesn't want to be a mental burden to Ray. And you asked her to marry you because you feel that it's partially your fault that Aeris is feeling so low right now." She laughed softly and shook her head. "What messed up relationships?"

"Kai, I think you should take the initiative and make things right again. I think the 4 of you should sit down and talk about this candidly and together, you should decide the best solution to this." She then paused and looked back at Kai. His face is stoic and emotionless, but she could see that her words have reached through. She could see the emotions that toyed inside Kai's eyes.

"Because Kai, I do believe that Celle and Celestia are the same person." She added softly and solemnly.

Kai's hands tightened around the steering wheel and he clutched the circular object tightly in his hands. The trip was silent then. They reached another red light and Kai pulled out his cell phone to dial a familiar number. It was a number that he hadn't used in quite a while. He pressed the phone up to his ear and waited. When the light turned green, he shut the phone and drove on.

"Her line is busy." He stated.

Lianna glanced at him and understood that he was talking about Celle's line. Then she sighed and glanced out the window again. "This could all be Celestia's fault."

"It's never her fault." Kai said out of reflex.

Lianna turned her head towards him at the quick answer and shook her head tiredly.

What love does to people.

Hiwatari Mansion

"You called?"

Voltaire turned around when a voice reached his ears and he saw Celle standing there. He smiled and stood up from his place before the pond. "Welcome, Miss Ran. Long time no see."

TBC...

Thanks for reading, please R&R.