Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Title: Waiting in the Wings
Chapter Title: Waiting for Gratitude
Rating: T
Categories: Romance/Drama
Summary: 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… I apologise if I offended anyone! ((bows humbly)) I am English and was trying to take the mick out of myself but obviously I've offended other Brits. Sorry.
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 V
Waiting for Gratitude
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.
Kai wasn't sure how it happened, (Ok, he did. Mariam had thrown her bag at him and stormed off. He had looked inside it the day after and had found a rent form that had her address written down on it and had gone through a map to find the location. Damn he needed a hobby.) But he was now outside Mariam's – dingy, dusty, crusty – apartment holding her handbag.
Had she even noticed yet? She probably blamed him – women were known for doing that.
Should he knock? It was eleven Ante-Meridian on a Sunday. Did she work on week-ends? Would she go to work if she didn't have her precious handbag?
Oh well, only one way to find out. He knocked. There was a shuffle of chairs from the inside and then the door was opened away from Kai. A green-haired boy stood in the doorway wearing a black t-shirt and grey boxers. He rubbed his eye – looking confused – and blinked a few times. When he realised who it was, he grinned toothily.
"Well, well, well, stick a pole up my ass and call me Ozuma… it's Kai!"
Kai's brows furrowed at the comment. This was obviously Mariam's little brother (whose name he still couldn't remember) who was in the Saint-Shields, and he was still in his teens. He looked as if he was coming towards the end of it. He must have been around sixteen to nineteen now but he still looked like he did when he was a kid but taller.
Despite not knowing his name, Kai guessed. He knew it begun with 'J', right? And how many names could there be that begun with 'J'? Guessing wouldn't hurt… right? "Uh… Jack? Jacob?"
The boy chuckled, "Name's Joseph, nice of you to remember." Well, at least he wasn't offended by it. Mariam would have blown a fuse, and blown his head off as well.
However, Kai didn't apologise – he never apologised. "Is your sister in, Joseph?"
Grinning, the teen replied, "Yeah but I warn you: she's not a pretty sight. She just woke up and boy is she cranky. Why do you want to see her, anyway? What's going on?"
Kai lifted up her handbag, "She dropped this the other day when we bumped into each other." Dropped? More like she chucked it at him. Of course, he wouldn't tell her younger brother of her dangerous mood swings – he probably knew plenty about them.
"Ha, so that's where it went. You should have seen my sister. She was tearing the place apart, looking for that darned bag; girls, huh? So stressed over a simple accessory… then again, it did have Sharkrash inside it. And our rent money."
Joseph continued to ramble on and Kai's right eyebrow rose. Wow, this boy could certainly ramble on. "Uh… your sister?" he reminded the green-haired boy. He slapped his forehead and grinned shamefacedly.
"Oh yeah! Sorry…" he turned to the side and called out, "Mariam!"
A sleepy blue haired woman came to the door, running a hand through her wild tresses. Her eyes were half open and she was wearing a large, dark green t-shirt that came to her mid-thigh and brought out the emerald in her forest green eyes. "What is it, Joseph?"
And no, Kai was not going to notice how long her legs were. The exposed, pale skin most certainly did not look clear and soft.
Don't look at her legs. Don't look at her legs. Don't look at her… Damn. He did look at her legs. And yes, he did notice how long her legs were. The exposed, pale skin most certainly did look clear and soft. Stupid male hormones were causing lust for some woman that he in no way found attractive. Ah, stupid lust! But he couldn't help being a man!
"Kai?" she rubbed her eyes and then her eyes suddenly widened in shock, "KAI! What the hell are you doing here? How did you manage to find out where I live? Why are you—" She looked down and then squeaked as she jumped to the side away from Kai's line of sight and poked her bright red face round the door and hissed. "What do you think you're doing? Just randomly showing up at my apartment!"
How dare that man have the audacity to show up when and where he felt like it! He was so… so… ARGH! Egotistical, chauvinistic, big-headed, arrogant, cynical… MAN! Said egotistical, chauvinistic, big-headed, arrogant, cynical man smirked, "Nice hello to you too, Mariam." He held up her bag, "Forget something?"
Her face turned an even dark shade of red and she snatched it back quickly. She reluctantly murmured her gratitude with a virtually silent "Thanks." Kai remained in her doorway and her face turned from embarrassment to puzzlement. "You can go now," she hinted not-so-subtly as she started to close the door.
Kai stopped the door by putting his foot in the way of the door's path. "That's a fine way to treat a man that saved your life, gave you back your bag and let you win in a beybattle."
She scoffed, "You didn't save my life. If it wasn't for you, I would have kept my bag," she realised what he had finished off with and her face turned red again – this time with indignation. "You did not let me win that beybattle! I won it fair and square! You just can't deal with the bitter taste of defeat, can you rich-boy?"
"Rich-boy?" he placed a hand on his heart and staggered back in mock-hurt, "I am deeply wounded by your nickname, Mariam. I never thought you would stoop so low. Is this how you treat all your guests? And if you did win that beybattle fair and square, wouldn't you want to prove your skill once more and shame me again?"
"Oh no," she said as she shook her head, "You are not tricking me into having another beybattle with you, Kai."
"Hey, wait a second. Rewind! What's going on? You saved her life? You beybattled? But Mariam, you never beybattle anymore!" Joseph was very bewildered, and was contemplating the temptation of ripping his green hair out. Kai and Joseph's sister beybattling? But they hardly spoke to each other when the Saint-Shields were here to take their bit-beasts. Did they even speak at all?
"It's a long story, bro," Mariam reached out with an arm and placed it on her brother's shoulder, "I'll explain later, I promise. Go home, Kai. Like Joseph said, I don't beybattle anymore. Do you want me to thank you again? Fine. Thank you, thank you, and thank you once more! Just leave me alone! Please!" It was awkward enough that he had seen her in a simple t-shirt! What was she doing going to the door for a stranger in just that piece of clothing, anyway? Was she losing her mind or something?
"Is that how you treat Max?" he asked.
Mariam's eyes narrowed to thin green slits. "Max is a good friend who has known me for seven years and maintained contact with me. He is not some egocentric, big-headed, conceited, rich-boy asshole!"
"And who is this egocentric, big-headed, conceited, rich-boy asshole of which you speak?" Kai inquired with an innocent-toned voice, infuriating Mariam to the point of no return.
"ARGH!" she growled with fury before slamming the door on his foot so hard that he withdrew it and lifted it off the floor. It was so painful! She must have broken it! Stupid woman! She shut the door and locked it.
"OW!" he groaned, "Hey! You broke my foot!"
"Oh, stop whining, Kai," she called from behind the door. "It isn't very becoming of you. Just take my advice and go home before I break another of your body parts. Namely the one you use to reproduce."
"You broke my foot!"
"Sure I did. Go back to your excessively large mansion, Kai." Kai knocked on the door angrily. No one got the best of him! He was going to prove that he could not be beaten by a mediocre player such as Mariam!
"Mariam!" No answer. "Mariam!"
"Excuse me; is there a problem, sir?" Kai turned and saw an elderly woman looking at him from down the corridor with a stern expression on her face and a cell phone held almost threateningly in her right hand.
"Humph," Kai grunted then limped past her to the stairs, "No, everything's fine – absolutely peachy."
"And then I asked Mrs Jin if I could get an anaconda but she said that I couldn't because it could get out and kill everyone. So I got a chameleon instead and do you know what I called it?" Gou's voice asked down the phone as Kai sat in a mahogany chair in front of his desk, going through the finances for the charities that the Hiwatari family (namely himself since he was the only Hiwatari who was able to deal with money and such) supported.
"No, Gou. What did you call it?" It was best to entertain Gou. No one wanted a cranky Gou.
"Dranzer! Just after your bit-beast, right?"
He smirked, "I'm glad you remembered." Gou showed promise, that was for sure, but due to an unfortunate accident with a gaggle of geese, did not approve of birds. Instead, he had an obsession with lizards.
"Oh, I gotta go now. Talk with you soon!" The dial tone played and Kai gently put the phone down. Phone conversations with Gou always calmed him down and talking of phone conversations, he really had to make contact with Tala soon. Heck, why not do so now? He'd be willing to do anything to get away from this darned paperwork.
Dialling the number, Kai put the dark grey phone to his ear and waited for the rings to stop sounding.
"What?" Odd. First of all, it was not Tala's voice, it was a girl's and secondly, it wasn't in Russian or Japanese. He couldn't quite remember what language… it would come to him soon. Despite not knowing what language it was, Kai continued to talk in Russian.
"Hello? Is Tala there? Tala Valkov?"
"Humph! Tala Valkov? NAJEBANYE! NAJEBANYE! NAJEBANYE!" (1) This was indeed in Russian, and the girl understood him. He was taken aback by her language… who was this crazy woman? Had he dialled the right number? Checking the number on the display, Kai was sure that he had put in the correct number.
There was a scuffle on the phone with a male voice – Tala's – trying to calm the psycho girl. "Please, just calm down." The girl laughed. "Calm down? HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BLOODY CALM DOWN! Can't understand me? I'll speak your language! NAJEBANYE! NAJEBANYE! NAJEBANYE!" Kai had to take the phone away from his ear. Wow, she did have a loud voice. English, he realised.
"Raven, please just give me the phone." Raven? (2) Was the name of this mentally-insane female?
"Want the phone? Here's your bloody phone!" There was the sound of the phone hitting something and a curse by a certain red-headed Russian.
"Hello?" Kai asked, worried for his friend's life. Had this crazy creature turned on him? And what was she doing there in the first place? There was a sound of someone groaning.
"Urgh… hello? Who is it?" Tala's voice. Kai exhaled in relief. He wasn't dead, but that didn't mean he was out of danger.
"Tala? Who was that?"
He chuckled, "Oh, her? That's Raven. She's the girl I told you about. And uh… that's all the Russian she knows."
"What? That's the girl you're 'in love' with? She's a psychopath!"
"Yeah I know. Lovely, isn't she? Sorry about that. We've just… come back from the hospital. We got some news." There was both excitement and worry in his tired voice.
"Hospital? What news?"
"My, my, you're curious today, Kai."
"Shut up. I've just been harassed by a mad woman."
"I suppose she has a right to, though. She was late… really late so we went to the doctor's surgery and took she took a test and…"
"No way!" Kai couldn't believe his ears. There was no way! "She's pregnant?" There was an agreeing murmur on the other side of the phone. "You… impregnated her? Tala, how could you?"
"Yes," the red head agreed with a defeated tone of voice, "But I love her, I suppose."
The mahogany-eyed Russian sneered, "You and love? Don't make me laugh."
Tala chuckled, "I know. When I first saw her, I despised her but then she grew on me like…"
"A wart?" the man with blue triangles on his face volunteered.
"No!" his friend protested. "You'll understand one day, Kai."
"Sure I will," Kai remarked sarcastically.
Sure I will…
Authoress' Notes
(1) – 'Najebanye' is Russian for 'f you'.
(2) – Those who read 'Dreams' and 'Apocalypse I: Blood Thirst' will recognise Raven. She only plays a cameo in this story.
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