Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Title: Waiting in the Wings
Chapter Title: Waiting for that Damn Coffee!
Rating: T
Categories: Romance/Drama
Summary: Dedicated to GothicSabrina. Mariam and Kai both want to be independent, not relying on someone else. Not relying on 'love'. When they meet, their opinions only grow stronger. But could there be love waiting in the fiery wings of Dranzer?
Feedback: Reviews! YUM! Flames? Why would you bother?
Status: Chapters. But only if you review!
Notes: Uh… last chapter… take-away take-out

WAITING IN THE WINGS

Kai/Mariam
Mariam and Kai both want to be independent, not relying on someone else. Not relying on 'love'. When they meet, their opinions only grown stronger. But could there be love waiting in the fiery wings of Dranzer?

Flowerperson
© 2005

Part IV
Waiting for that Damn Coffee!

Mariam

Yawning, Mariam decided to retire to bed also. She would have to wake up again tomorrow for work, but would think again before agreeing to working overtime…

Kai

Speaking of which, he should phone Tala back soon. They always took turns in communicating with each other every few months. Oh well, he could save it until later. He had someone else to phone. Picking up the grey handset, he dialled a number.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Gou."

Mariam was currently on her much deserved lunch break, and was spending the hour in a popular coffee shop half a mile from her office. Hm, if you could call it an office. It was like a janitor's closet with a small cheap desk and a bright red telephone on top of it. The only good thing about it was the chair, which was quite comfortable. Problem was she tended to doze off while sitting in it.

The coffee shop was called 'Caffeine' and quite a popular place. The coffee was great, and the atmosphere was actually quiet despite it being full most of the time. People tended to come with a good book and even couples came and batted their eyelashes at each other whilst whispering declarations of love. She hated all that sap.

Anyway, at the moment she was tapping her fingers on the counter as she waited for the pimply teenager to get off the phone and serve her. She had no idea what he was talking about – or who he was talking to – but she was sure it wasn't for business purposes. 'Honey-Bee' could have perhaps been a slight hint.

She coughed, trying to attract his attention but was ineffective. She swore all teenagers had a hearing problem. 'Selective Hearing' Joseph had called it with a look of affection in his eyes.

The blue haired woman was never like that as a teenager… well, maybe she was. She insulted the bumbling ape (a.k.a. Dunga), constantly thought about food and occasionally disregarded Ozuma and the village elders' rule. She was some rebel.

Though she was bordering on the line of jerk-ness, she wasn't a complete jerk unlike some certain Russian beyblader with silly blue triangles on his stupid, pale face that smirked all the time looking so smug and handsome… whoa! What the hell was that? Handsome?

Oh, Mariam, you need to stop watching those anime soap operas! They're getting to you! Soon you'll be a fluffed up, vulnerable woman looking to cling onto the next man she sees! And you'll start crying because your toaster broke!

Wanting to slap herself (but not being able to because people would look at her strangely), Mariam realised that the acne-suffering teenager was looking at her exasperatedly, chewing gum. "What'll it be?"

"Espresso… wait, make that a latte." Maybe it was the caffeine. She had drunk an espresso at work, and maybe the caffeine was still in her bloodstream, swimming round and messing up everything, including her brain.

There was a sudden voice, and Mariam swore mentally. Speak of the devil… "Fancy meeting you here." The voice was smug, arrogant, pompous, chauvinistic… the same tone that made her clench her teeth. However, she turned to him with a sweet mock smile and her emerald eyes fluttered at the Russian.

"Good afternoon, Kai, and what a coincidence it is." The smirk planted on his damn face widened.

"Indeed. Seeing as it is a coincidence, I propose we have a little re-match." Mariam scowled, so that was what he wanted. She should have known. It was just like Kai. He did not like losing, just as much as Tyson or even Mariam. Ozuma could cope with defeat, as could Joseph but hot-heads like her, Dunga and Tyson could not. It seemed Kai was the exception to this rule for he was not a hot-head, not really.

True, his bit-beast's element was fire, but his personality was ice. Kai made sly strategies, Kai made almost fool-proof plans and Kai tended not to rush into things head-first.

But she was not stupid. She liked having one over the fellow beyblader and she knew she would lose against Kai, when he knew her well, and had seen her weaknesses. Nope, Kai would have to settle with his defeat. He would have to let it fester like a parasite egg underneath his skin (1). Kai had tasted the bitterness of defeat; she would not let him taste the sweetness of victory.

"Sorry. But it seems I've left Sharkrash at home." A bluff, of course. She never went anywhere without Sharkrash, but he didn't know that.

"Is that so?" he questioned, his mahogany eyes alight with arrogance and cunning. She didn't like looking into his eyes; you got a glimpse of what he was thinking, but never enough to know exactly what you should be afraid of. Then again, the answer was the straightforward. You should simply be afraid of Kai on the whole. Mariam was not afraid of Kai… nope. She wasn't intimidated.

He took a step closer, and Mariam suddenly wanted to re-evaluate her feelings of no intimidation. "Mm-hmm," she nodded, unable to form words in case she was to stutter. Stuttering in front of Kai was like sticking an alight rocket in your pants. Bad idea!

Kai tilted his head to the side, and then in sudden speed that she barely saw, he grabbed her black bag and opened the zipper, delving his hand inside as he grinned at her smugly.

"Hey! What are you doing? That's stealing, Kai! I have private things in there!" Oh yes, she had very private things in there. It happened to be close to Mariam's 'time of the month' and she had certain lady accessories in that bag, near the top for 'easy, emergency access'. She felt her face turn crimson and felt like shrivelling up and dying on the spot. "KAI!" she protested.

Disregarding the female products, Kai felt the sharp edge of her beyblade and brought it out, raising a brow as he held the object in his hand. "Pitiful, Mariam, truly shameful. Are the Saint-Shields even allowed to lie? They are 'Saints', after all."

She snatched her bag and her beyblade back, her face still blushing red as she zipped her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "I don't want a beybattle, Kai. I'm not sixteen anymore. I only have one hour break and I do not intend to spend it with an uncouth, arrogant man such as Kai Hiwatari that can only think about a kid's game!"

He frowned, "If it's just a kid's game, why do you keep Sharkrash with you? Why did BEGA and Biovolt use beyblades to attempt to take over the world? Why did Team Psychic waste millions on making copies? Why did the Saint-Shields want to seal the spirits of a stupid 'kid's game' into stone? Why are we all still remembering the past adventures we had?"

Mariam scoffed and turned away from him, crossing her arms indignantly. "We were just children, Kai. Children don't have adventures. It was just a game, nothing more."

Grabbing her shoulder and spinning her to face him, Kai spoke again, "Do you remember what it felt like as a child to launch the beyblade? To feel your bit-beast's power at your command? To witness a small object defy the laws of physics?"

She pushed off his hand and turned back to the counter where the teenager was sitting in a chair reading a book. "Excuse me, kid, where's my damn latte?"

'Pizza-face' shrugged, "I didn't want to disturb you and your husband."

The emerald-eyed female fumed, "He is NOT my husband! Get up and get me that damn coffee so I can get the hell out of here and away from the insufferable entity of arrogance! And make sure it's Take-Out (2)." The teenager got up, muttering, and filled a white polystyrene cup with the coffee and milk. Paying for it, Mariam departed quickly. Kai however kept with her, matching her paces. "Are you my stalker now?" she inquired, "Are you going to follow me to work?"

Oh God, she hoped not. Even Joseph didn't know the state of the dingy building she worked in – she only gave him the number for emergencies and forbade him from ever visiting. If Kai saw where she was employed… she would never live it down due to his constant smug remarks and venomous insults emerging from his poision-tongue.

But hey, at least she had a job. He probably just drained off his grandfather's millions like an irritating leech. Ha, what an entertaining visual thought – Kai the blood-sucker.

Now that she thought about it, he probably was slightly into vampirism with his strange face-painted blue triangles that he still kept even though he was a fully grown adult. Probably so he was well recognised, though the two-toned hair, pale skin, mahogany irises that made the room subzero, the white scarf and the stubborn and arrogant pose were a dead give-away, as was his grunts and voice that caused shivers down any female's spine – hell, even Mariam's however she wished to deny it.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Would you like me to?"

Growling in fury, Mariam abruptly turned to him and threw her handbag at his face. He caught it coolly and watched her storm off. He called out for her, "Hey, don't you want your bag?"

But she was too frustrated to hear.

Mariam groaned as she collapsed onto her bed – her work clothes still on her body. She rolled over and saw her brother Joseph standing in the doorway looking at her with large jade green eyes, filled with tears and looking sad.

She immediately sat up and her face turned from one of exhaustion to one of concern, "What's wrong, Joseph?" He shrugged dejectedly but his lower lip trembled as if the tears were begging to be released.

"I had some trouble sleeping." He muttered. She thought about asking whether if it was anything to do with 'green eggs and ham' but that was for a less serious moment.

Mariam patted the side of her bed, indicating for him to sit down next to her. He complied, and she wrapped an arm around his shoulders then immediately took it away as she felt how warm and sweaty he was. It felt like he had just spent the whole day in a baking hot sauna. What was wrong with him? Was he ill?

"What's wrong, bro?" she questioned fretfully as she felt his hot and moist forehead. His green bangs were sticking to his slightly tanned skin. "Do you feel unwell? You have a terrible fever. Do you feel faint or nauseous? Should I call an ambulance or something? Have you eaten anything funny? Maybe we should—"

"It's pointless, isn't it?" he interjected as he supported his head on her shoulder. "We had everything we needed back with the Saint-Shields. Back with our village. I know you were really unhappy with Ozuma. But… staying here is doing nothing."

Nothing? Was that thought she was doing? They had been in Japan for two years and he thought it had accomplished nothing? All the hard work wasn't worth even something? It wasn't even worth the appreciation of her little brother, whom it was all for? She felt slightly hurt, and betrayed, but maybe it was the fever speaking.

"I don't see you at all. I can't understand most of this education stuff. You're stuck in a dead-end job. And look!" he gestured to himself weakly then ran a hand through his greasy green hair. His eyes lost their usual hyper sheen. He looked defeated. He looked tired. He looked… ill. "I'm seventeen (3) and I'm crying like a little baby! I'm nothing! I'm worthless!"

Nothing? Worthless? Insignificant? Joseph? 'Worthless' was something she would have written onto that ape Dunga's forehead, but definitely not Joseph's. Who had found out about the cyber bit-beasts? Why, Joseph of course. He was the crucial key when finding out about the mysterious organisation that seemed to also be after the Blade-Breaker's bit-beasts, especially the champion Tyson's.

Really, in that adventure Joseph and Ozuma had been the main players while Mariam and Dunga came for the ride, bickering as they did. Joseph was much more than nothing, and much more than something. He was everything! He wasn't valueless, he was valuable!

"You work so hard. I don't deserve a wonderful sister such as you." Didn't deserve her? She didn't deserve him. What brought on this sudden depression? This… sudden feeling of unimportance?

"Joseph, please calm down. Do you want to go to the hospital?" Truth was, she had no idea where the nearest hospital was and she didn't know if the emergency service would waste their time on a seemingly inferior case such as this, even if it terrified Mariam. "I don't really think you'll be well enough to go back to school tomorrow…"

"NO!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I need to go to school! I can only get it if I go to school!" Mariam did not question what 'it' was, she naturally assumed it was learning. Which was true, his falling back would not get better if he missed school.

"Are you sure?" she verified, "I'm not sure that's a good idea…"

He abruptly stood up and glared at her, "It's my life, Mariam! I can do what I want! It's not that you're with me long enough to be able to make any decisions!" And with that, Joseph departed, leaving Mariam very confused.

Gee, Joseph. Moody much? Oh well, it must just have been his fever. But he was seventeen.It was not like she could stop him from going to school. At least he was showing some enthusiasm, which isn't what people could say about most teenagers – being the rude youths they were. However, she was still concerned. She'd check on him in the morning and would see how he was.

And hope that his temper and his temperature were both down.

Authoress' Notes

(1) — In Science today, we watched a film about body parasites (nice) so I thought about putting it in as a lovely metaphor.

(2) — In my last chapter, I wrote that Mariam asked Joseph to get a 'take-away' next time. I completely forgot that Americans refer to what us Brits called take-away as take-out. So, I'll try to use American words but I'm not American, so it may be difficult. Sheesh, I put the language as English and yet I write 'American' words.

(3) — Right, according to AbsoluteAnimeDOTcom (yet again…), Joseph was 10-14 years old during V-Force. I have chosen him to be ten since he was very short and I want it to be a big difference in age between him and Mariam.

((Flowerperson walks on in an old-fashioned Police uniform twirling a baton)) (in a cockney accent, which yes, I do have) 'Ello, 'ello, 'ello, what's going on 'ere then? ((British Kid shouts out "'Ello, Gov'ner"))

Ok, ok. I'm stopping. Sorry, I just had the sudden urge and you know me: I'm extremely random. So… what is going on with poor Joseph? Is he ill? Or something else… hehe, I know! But you don't, so I'm not telling you.

Review please, especially you GothicSabrina. And all you ShadowReaders™ (people that read, but do not review)!

Flowerperson (R a v e n o f D e s p a i r 1 3 AT a o l . c o m)