"And this picture, we took with the President of the company," Sarial said, sliding a picture across the wooden floor to Hilary. I was on my back, arm hovering over my eyes to screen out the hot sun. A little bit away, I heard the Bladebreakers, or whatever they called themselves, going at each other with their stupid tops.
"Oh my gosh… is that really Katora?" I heard Hilary say. I sat up and crawled over to her, looking at the picture in her hands. There I was, standing with some guy who I don't remember. He had chestnut hair with black roots, and was wearing a nice black suit. I stood with his arm around my bare shoulder. Hugging my body was a burgundy beaded halter dress, with a very flattering v-neck. My long, brown hair was parted to the side, in loose waves. I tried to cover my left eye, but I managed to hide a bit.
"Who is that guy? I don't remember him," I asked Sarial. She rolled her eyes.
"He the Financial Head's nephew, remember? He was hitting on you all night," she said in a matter-of-fact manner. I smirked.
"Yeah, and you had the President's son and Head of Communications fighting over you. How could you forget that?" I said, mocking her tone from before.
"My, if I met beauties like you then, I would've never let you out of my sight," said an oddly familiar voice. I groaned. I forgot HE was here. "Really though, I think green is more your colour."
"I forgot about you. Why aren't you gone with the wind?" I groaned. The redhead named Tala stood with his head over my left shoulder, smirking.
"I told you people already. I'm not leaving until I get my battle with Kai." Another groan. Oh, the horrible memories…
FLASHBACK
"So, who's the beauty in my arms?" asked a redheaded person. I pushed him away and went to stand beside my sister. His ice-blue eyes freaked me out. And that shade of red…maybe he dyed his hair?
"What the hell are you doing here, Valkov?" I was surprised to find Kai was the one who spoke.
"Came to speak with Dickenson about the upcoming tag-team tournament. Don't tell me you haven't heard of it. After all, being that old man's favorites, I'd expect that you've been notified," said Tala, smirking. "Then again, he might've thought that no-talents like you shouldn't join in on the fun. Either way, with or without you competing, my team's going to win this year."
"Hey, don't go disrespecting us like that!" Tyson ordered, acting all-that.
"Honestly, who the hell are you?" Sarial asked, obviously fed up with being ignored. "You come and put your disgusting arm on my sister, than go on talking about something that we hardly understand. Tell us who you are or we'll call the police!"
"Wait a second, Sarial," Hilary spoke. She turned to Max. "We'll meet you at Tyson's later." Then she led us away. We reached a four-way stoplight, and Hilary halted. "I'm sorry; that was Tala. He's a member of the Blitzkrieg Boys."
"Is he one of those people who play with those weird tops?" I asked, smoothing out my skirt. Hilary nodded, and the three of you began to cross the street. "No wonder we understood nothing of what they're talking about. Will he be gone by the time we're at Tyson's?"
"More than likely not," Hilary said slowly. "You see, he and Kai are rivals. And rivals usually fight when they see each other. However, Kai's motto is 'don't spend time with amateurs' or something, so it's more than likely that Tala will be here for a while."
"As long as he doesn't lose his balance easily and weigh as heavy as Tyson does, I'm happy," I complained. Hilary and Sarial laughed.
END FLASHBACK"If you can talk Kai into having a Beybattle with me, I'll be out of here sooner than later," Tala said, scratching Kai the puppy behind the ears. Unlucky him, my puppy was sleeping. Waking up a puppy from naptime usually results in biting the owner of the hand, which is what happened in this case. "Hey!"
"That's what you get for waking up Kai," I said as the golden Labrador walked lazily onto my lap and fell asleep again. Tala raised an eyebrow. "That's his name. You got a problem?" I snapped.
"I just find it odd you named your dog after your boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend!" Kai said angrily, his eyes still focused on the dish. Hilary ignored the whole thing completely by looking at pictures of Sarial and I dressed up for parties. Sarial laughed.
"Katora? Getting a boyfriend? She's the last person you'd think to get a boyfriend!" she cawed, laughing. Then she looked at me. "Remember what you said after you turned down Jake Ryerson last year? 'I have no time for boys.'"
"I don't have that bad a memory," I volleyed back. "It's true though. I was doing really bad in school back then."
"Not anymore now," Sarial grinned. I couldn't help but grin back.
"Least I'm not totally boy crazy," I defended. Sarial scrunched her nose at me, then went back to showing Hilary pictures. Suddenly, I heard Kai and Max screaming at each other. Or rather, at their Beyblades. Suddenly, there was a flash of red and purple, and then nothing.
"Wow, check out that turtle," Sarial said, pointing at the sky. I followed her finger but saw nothing. "Katora, can you see it? And that phoenix, man it's beautiful."
"I don't see anything." Instantly, all heads turned my way. "Just the sky. Nothing else."
"She's having that same problem Hilary had." Kenny said. He studied my face closely. "Is there any problem with your eyes?" I froze. Sarial quickly came to my rescue. Or, at least, tried to.
"Her eyes are fine! There's nothing wrong with them," she defended. Ray came over to me and brushed the hair away from my left eye. Oh shit…
"Then explain why her left eye is pale green when her right one is dark?" he asked, taking my face in his hand. I pulled away and grabbed my bag, standing up. Kai rolled off my lap and opened his brown eyes.
"My eye is none of your concern," I snapped. I walked out to the front door, slipped on my shoes, and pushed open the heavy wooden door of Tyson's dojo. Tyson's grandpa came out, holding a wooden kendo sword. "Thanks for having me over. I'll be leaving now."
"Wait, Katora, about your eye—" Max began, but I cut him off.
"I don't want to talk about it. Bye," I interrupted. Kai barked and followed me out the door. Down the street, I slowed my pace down a bit and kicked an empty pop can. "None of their damn business if I'm blind," I mumbled. The little bugger suddenly turned around and barked at me. "What're you barking at me for, you rascal?"
"He's not barking at you." I swung my heavy book bag at the follower. Tala caught my wrist with ease.
"Stalker," I mumbled, twisting my wrist free. I continued down the road until I heard Tala's next line.
"So I was right. You're blind in your left eye," he said. I stopped walking. I craned my head back to look at him. He looked straight back at my right eye. "I was wondering why your senses on your left side were –how should I say this?- dead, when your senses on your right side were perfectly fine. You didn't even notice me when I looked over your shoulder back at the dojo."
"Maybe I don't mind people looking over my shoulder," I lied. Tala clearly didn't believe me. He smirked and walked up to me.
"I highly doubt that, especially since I heard you say it yourself just now." Then he began to mock my voice, making me sound all high-pitched and like a girl full of troubles. "None of their damn business if I'm blind." I turned around and began walking again.
"Haha. You should go for voice acting," I said sarcastically. Tala followed me. Kai trotted at my side. "Why are you following me?"
"You have a problem with that?" Tala sneered. I looked back at him, not slowing my pace, and glared at him.
"I do. Especially when it's a guy who spend his time playing that stupid game with tops," I fired at him.
"Beyblade is not a stupid sport. It's better than whatever you do."
"I do track, specializing in sprints. It works the body more than screaming at your opponent and being over dramatic when your top flies out the dish," I said. Turning the corner, I dug into my bag for my house key.
"So? Better than running around like you have no head. Beyblading requires mental focus of a certain level," Tala argued, leaning on the wall while I unlocked the door. I turned to face him, glaring at him through my right eye.
"I'd rather run and feel the wind on my face rather than stand still while my opponent spits at me from screaming in my face," I defended. I opened the door a bit, just enough for me and Kai to slip though. "Goodbye." And I slammed the door in his face. I heard him say 'women' before walking off. "Men," I huffed.
I kicked off my shoes and threw my bag onto the couch. Kai stood by his food bowl, hitting his tail against the floor, tongue out and watering. I snorted back a laugh and scooped some food into his bowl. An hour later, Sarial came home just when I finished cooking.
"I have such great timing," Sarial praised herself, dropping her bag on the couch next to mine. I grinned and set her plate in front of her. She wrinkled her nose. "Curry and rice? We had that last week!"
"Live with my food or eat your own," I said. She wrinkled her nose again and began to eat. "My cooking can't be that bad."
"It's not that, but having one thing over and over again is kind of boring," Sarial said, eating another spoonful of rice.
"It's not like we had curry this morning, at lunch and now," I teased her. She rolled her eyes. I finished dinner and left the dishes for Sarial to take care of and started my homework. After, Sarial sat next to me and turned on the TV, flipping through channels.
"I told them about your eye," Sarial began. I stopped writing my English paragraph. She turned off the TV and looked at me. I was about to argue, but she continued. "They seem nice enough people. Very sympathetic. I think that they won't make fun of you or anything."
"But with Tyson's big mouth, who knows where the information will spread to," I argued. "I can't believe it! My own sister! Telling the world about my problems! Why don't I just post it on a bulletin board instead!"
"I'm sure they won't do anything stupid," Sarial said. "I heard Kai say to the team when I was leaving that if anything leaks out, there'll be trouble for them."
"Why? 'Cause the almighty Bladebreakers are associated with people who don't Beyblade?" I growled. Sarial laughed, shaking her head. Her brown locks flew everywhere.
"No, no! He did it for our privacy! I don't think he cares much if we play that stupid game. After all, he hardly even pays attention to us," Sarial finished, her voice trailing off. I packed away my books and started up the stairs, my socked feet making their way up from body instincts. My brain didn't really tell them to move up, because it was to busy thinking about what Sarial said.
I changed into my nightshirt and slid under the pale green covers of my bed. Kai came into my room and jumped onto my bed, walking around and then settling down near my face. I smiled at him, kissed his nose goodnight and drifted off to sleep.
A few weeks passed by since that day. My relationship with Sarial wasn't affected, but I became shy around the Bladebreakers. The only time I talked to them was when I had to, and whenever I went to Tyson's place with Sarial, I usually sat on the floor and played around with my puppy.
Summer came by really fast, and we were let out of school and sis started planning to hang out with the Bladebreakers. I can't say I wanted to go with her, but there was nothing else to do. So today we were going to the beach. "HEY KATORA!" I heard my sister call me from downstairs. A slam of the front door told me that the Bladebreakers were here. "No, no, Katora's coming. She's just shy wearing something so revealing."
"I'm not shy!" I cried down the stairs, trying to tie a knot at the back of my neck. "Sarial! Help me! I can't get this knot!" I heard her sigh and excuse herself, and then come up the stairs. She came in wearing beach shorts and a baby blue bikini. I turned my back to her and showed her the failed knot I made.
"God, Katora. First you hold up our guests and now you mess up your tankinii? Are we really sisters?" she joked, fixing my knot. I thanked her and pulled on my capris and grabbing my bag. We ventured down the stairs, and I heard a whistle.
"Two lovely twin stars. Are you sure the Gemini were brothers?" Tala said, nudging Kenny. I frowned, my eyebrows knitting together to give off the vibe that I was angry.
"Why the hell is HE here?" I asked Sarial. She shrugged.
"He wanted to come. I couldn't say 'No, you can't come because my sister's being a baby about some guy who angers her easily'. It's not like he's some rapist," she explained, saying the last part in Spanish. Max laughed uncontrollably.
"Why are you laughing?" Tyson ask stupidly. Then it clicked in my head. Max is American. Americans learn Spanish in school. So that means…
"I learned Spanish in school back in U.S.A. And man are you funny," Max laughed. I blushed and grabbed the keys from the counter. Hilary stood up and followed me. Kai trotted to keep up with my long strides.
"What did she say about Tala?" Ray asked as we all left the house. Max finally calmed himself down (or tried to). "Well? Are you going to tell us?"
"Not sure Tala's going to like what he hears though," Sarial said to them over her shoulder. Hilary walked beside me and asked me what Sarial said. I leaned into her ear and whispered my answer. It took her two seconds to register what I said, then, like Max, laughed like there was no tomorrow.
At the beach, Kai attacked the water immediately, only to come running back to me wet. I laughed and kneeled down to stroke his salty head. He barked and wagged his tail. "Do you want to play?" I asked him. Another bark. I picked up a nearby stick and threw it as far as I could down the deserted beach. "Fetch, Kai!" I ordered playfully. The violent fur-ball tore after the stick.
"Yeah Kai, go fetch," Tala teased, nudging the human Kai in the ribs. The blue haired boy swatted the redhead's arm away, then walked down the beach the same way that my puppy went. I dropped my stuff and waited for Kai to come back with the stick in his mouth, but instead I got a bucket of water dumped on me. I hadn't even taken off my pants!
"C'mon, Katora! Kai'll come back soon!" Hilary said, bucket in her hands. I peeled off my pants to reveal a white and multi-pastel coloured striped tankini. I smiled at her. "That's the spirit!"
"You want spirit? Here's spirit!" I cried, throwing her over my shoulder. She was still dry, so throwing her into the ocean made things pretty even. I was laughing until Ray pushed me in. This started a water war, which was pointless since we were all wet (expect for Kenny, who was sitting on the dry sand far away, clinging to his precious laptop), but it was fun.
About an hour and a half later, Kai still hadn't come back. I left the water, splashed Tala one last time and retrieved my towel. I wrapped a thin beach skirt around my hip and walked down the beach that the fur ball went off to. Combing my fingers through my knotted hair, I attempted to make a somewhat neat braid.
I got to near the end of the beach, and still no sign of the puppy. I was about to give up and go back, hope that he would be there, when I spotted a mass of blue hair. Kai was kneeling down, stroking something I couldn't see. I walked closer to him and realized what it was.
"Kai! Here boy!" I called. Kai the puppy opened his eyes. He walked away from Kai and came to me. I patted my thighs and he picked up the pace. "You little rascal, running away and making mommy worry." I cradled in him my arms, scratching his ears while he tucked his head onto my shoulder, falling asleep. Blue Boy walked up and stroked the puppy's head before starting to walk back to the others.
"So, um… were you with Kai the entire time?" I asked. He only nodded, continuing down the beach. Another silence came, then I asked another question. "How do you and Tala know each other?"
"We met in Russia."
That was a quick response, I thought. Does this guy ever talk more than a few words? Suddenly, it became oddly dark. I looked above us to find dark thunderclouds forming above us. Flashes of lightning appeared. I was about to step forward, thinking I could make it back to the others before the storm came, but Kai grabbed my wrist and pulled me the opposite way.
"Hey, where're we going!" I cried. He practically dragged me to this cave at the very end of the beach, then he let go of me. "Sarial's going to worry if I don't go back!"
"She'll be happier praying that you're alive rather than finding you dead later from electrocution," Kai pointed out. I guess he was right. And I'm still wet from earlier.
"What about he others?" I asked. I sat a little bit away from the mouth of the cave, setting Kai down on my lap. He shifted to be in a more comfortable position, then resumed to his earlier job of snoring.
"They'll find shelter. That cyborg should be smart enough to know not to go near water." Kai sat down next to me, bringing one knee up to rest his arm. He closed his eyes and blocked out the world. I huffed; I was mad that I couldn't see my sister, tell her I was safe. If there was anytime that I needed my 'psychic connection', it was now.
"Do you have any family here?" I asked. Might as well get to know each other while we're here, right?
"They're dead, and my grandfather is in jail," was the response. I felt my heart sinking. So that's why he was so cold. He has no parents… Anyone would turn away from the world if that happened to him or her. It was no doubt. His next word surprised me, "You?"
"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. He didn't move form his position. I could feel the cold getting to me; goose bumps were rising on my skin.
"Your family. I know Sarial's alive and well."
"Oh. Well… Yeah, Sarial's alive," I said stupidly. Duh, he just said he knew that! How stupid can I possibly get? "My mom is Vice President of some company, so she travels a lot to meet with others. Sis and I hardly see her. Most of the people she meets with live in the Asian continent, so she was relocated here. And Sarial and I moved with her. My dad…" I bowed my head, thinking about him. When was the last time I saw him smile? The last time he gave me a piggyback ride?
"Go on," he said. From his tone, it sounded like he really didn't care what I said. But I found myself talking about Dad anyways.
"He died when I was nine. Dad was the one who supported me most when I started to do track. I guess it was because he did track as well," I continued. More goose bumps on my skin surfaced. "He died on the racetrack, sprinting for the Olympics. I guess… I sprint for him," I said, breathing in a silent breath. "He and mom met when Dad came to Holland to visit his friend from some track meet. After they married, Dad moved to Holland."
Another silence. I clenched my jaw to shut away the chattering of my teeth, but I couldn't stop shaking just a bit. I felt something light but warm fall on my head. Kai had dropped his jacket on my head, which now fell around my shoulders. He adjusted his scarf around his neck and sat up straight. Kai the puppy woke up and jumped at him, licking his face.
"I wasn't born here," he said, playing with Kai's tiny paws. I pulled his jacket closer around me, listening to him. "I was born I Russia. Hiwatari is -was- my mother's maiden name. I didn't feel like having the same last name as my grandfather." There was a loud clap of thunder. I jumped a bit, so did my puppy, but Kai didn't move. "Both of my parents died when I was young. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father died from a heart failure."
Just like my dad, I thought, His dad died of a heart failure, too. Was it a broken heart? Possibly. I've heard of people dying because someone else they loved died.
"I moved in with my grandfather, and his… assistant taught me how to Beyblade."
"You mean how to scream at your opponent until your lungs are gone?" I said sarcastically.
"Call it whatever you want, but I live the sport. I am one with my Beyblade."
"You mean you're made of metal?" I could see Kai's face twitch in annoyance. "Sorry."
"You wouldn't understand unless you saw Bit Beasts like Dranzer in action," Kai snapped. I frowned.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm blind to those things you call Bit Beasts," I defended. Another silence fell over us.
"I forgot you're blind," he said bluntly. Kai the puppy came back over to me and gnawed at my bracelet again. I pulled my hand away and scratched his itchy spot under his chin. "That bracelet, who gave it to you?"
"My dad. It was my birthday present when I turned eight. That's why I was spazzing to my sister when I lost it," I explained. I looked outside to find the clouds drifting away. I stood up and walked to the mouth of the cave. My messy braid that hung over my left shoulder was drier now.
"We can go back now. It looks safe," Kai stated, taking a step forward. I took off his jacket and handed it back to him. He nodded thank you and put it back on. The puppy came out after us and followed Kai's white scarf, staring at it. Suddenly, he jumped up and caught the scarf between his teeth.
"Kai, stop bothering people," I said to the pup, picking him up He wouldn't let go of the scarf. And Kai didn't seem to mind his scarf being chewed on.
We reached the place where I left everyone, but found only Kenny there. I was about to ask him where everyone was when I heard the movement of water to my left. I turned around too late; a second bucket of water was dumped on me. Hilary and Sarial were laughing, each holding a bucket.
Max, Ray, Tyson and Tala threw water at Kai, who tried to run away. He apparently forgot that Kai the puppy was holding onto his scarf, and keeping a firm grip. I was laughing as the boys doused Kai with water; his clothes now clung to his body.
I don't know what came over me that hour, but I became carefree; I felt as if the world existed with no problems. For a moment, I completely forgot that Kai had a cold exterior, and this beach trip seemed like any other. For a moment, I forgot that I was half blind.
i I'm not sure if you've heard of them, but tankinis are like bikinis expect they are more secure than bikinis when it comes to the string.
There's chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it