A/N: I'm back with the next chapter. I hope this lives up to everyone's expectations. I want to thank everyone who's reviewed so far, they all meant a lot. Reviews make me a very happy person. Other than that, there's really not much else to say. So, thanks again to the reviewers and enjoy!
Warnings: Contains yaoi, meaning male/male relationships. Don't like, don't read. It's quite simple, really.
Disclaimer: Wish I could lay claim to the wonderful anime called Beyblade, but sadly I can't.
Pairings: Kai/Rei. What else would I write? Well, besides Tyson/Max.
Summary: Established Kai/Rei. Rei's been poisoned and it's unknown if he'll pull through. Can love do what medicine can't?
Finding You Again
Chapter One
Rei entered the kitchen of the suite they were staying in, smiling brightly as he made his way over to the refrigerator. He hummed to himself as he pulled out the food he was going to use to cook breakfast and put it on the counter next to the stove. Then he moved onto the cupboards, taking out the required utensils and such. Finally, he washed his hands in the sink and got to work.
Thinking that nothing could get him down off his own personal Cloud 9, he greeted Tyson with a cheerful smile and a chipper 'hello' as he came stumbling into the kitchen.
The other boy, however, did not seem to be faring so well. He immediately headed for the stool sitting next to the island in the kitchen, resting his head on his arms, grumbling to himself.
"You okay, Tyson?" Rei asked as he buttered a pan for the eggs.
"Bad dreams. Bad mood," was all he said.
"Nightmares?"
Tyson shook his head. "No, just not happy dreams."
The neko-jin spared him a sympathetic look. "Well, you can cheer up because I'm making you bacon."
The dragon blader managed a small smile at that. "Thanks, but I wish it were that simple. All my dreams had Kai in them." He shuddered.
Rei stifled a laugh. "He even making you train in your dreams?"
"Yes," was the disgruntled reply. He raised his head a bit so his voice wouldn't get muffled. "I mean, who does he think he is, making us train day in and day out? We deserve a break, ya know. I bet he doesn't even know what a vacation is. Every vacation we ever had he spent training!"
"He's our captain and he wants to make us the best team we can be, Tyson," Rei said reasonably, hoping to prevent one of Tyson's rants. Those never ended well, especially since he had fallen in love with the source of Tyson's ire.
"Well, he's not doing a very good job. Aren't teammates supposed to like each other? He hates us! He doesn't even make an effort to get to know us or anything! He just goes around, training and being antisocial. I hate it! And whenever he's in a bad mood he takes it out on us!"
Rei closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. "Tyson, that's not fair and you know it. Kai has his reasons for being the way he is. We shouldn't force him to do anything he's not ready to do on his own. He's never hated any of us. He may not have liked us at first, but he's always done what he could. And no one's perfect. Everyone has bad days and does things they regret. I'm afraid that if you continue on this rant of yours that I'm going just that."
Tyson either didn't hear the last part or ignored it as he openly stared at Rei. "Hasn't hated us! Where have you been, man? He's a total jackass! Not once have I seen him be caring toward someone else. I don't know if he can! He just doesn't have the capability. If he can't even care about someone, he certainly can't lo—"
"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, Tyson," Rei growled dangerously.
Blinking at Rei's sudden rage, Tyson finally realized what he had been saying and who he had been saying it to. "Rei, I—"
"Tyson, you may not understand Kai, but I do and that's what matters. There's one person on this planet who can understand him and that's more than he ever thought possible. Frankly, I don't care what you think about him as long as you keep it to yourself. Think whatever you want, but don't you ever, ever question his feelings for me." Here he turned around and locked Tyson with his eyes, pupils turned to slits in his anger. "He is capable of things that you can only dream of. I don't ever want to hear something like that come out of your mouth again, especially not to me. Kai is the person I love more than anything else and I will not stand for anyone saying things like that about him. Now, I would appreciate it if you would get out of the kitchen and let me finish making breakfast."
Face now very white, Tyson nodded and stood, and quietly went back inside the room he shared with Max and Kenny.
As soon as Tyson was gone Rei exhaled, trying to get rid of the anger that was trying to overwhelm him. In his anger-induced haze, he failed to realize he had been clenching his fists so hard his nails had pierced his skin and blood was slowly running down his hand.
However, Max did as soon as he entered the kitchen area. "Rei?" he called softly, concern lacing his voice.
Thankfully, Max's innocent voice snapped him out of whatever funk he was in and his eyes went back to normal. He looked over his shoulder at the blonde. "Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
Rei managed a small smile. "Yeah, Max. Why?"
At this he looked a bit nervous. "Well, I didn't mean to—really!—but I heard your argument with Tyson. That and…you're hand's bleeding."
The neko-jin blinked and looked down at his right hand. "Oh. I hadn't realized…thanks, Max."
"Do you want me to bandage it for you?"
Max's innocent worry completely chased away the anger that had refused to leave his system and he gave him a real smile. "Please."
The tortoise blader smiled back, waited for Rei to turn off the stove, and then they walked to the bathroom attached to Max's room. Tyson was sitting on the bed with his back to the door, Dragoon clutched in his hand. He didn't even seem to notice the others' presence.
Rei closed the toilet lid and sat on that while Max got out some antibiotic ointment and bandages from the cabinet. He sat still while Max applied the ointment and carefully wrapped his palm.
"I'm sorry about what Tyson said to you, Rei," Max began quietly. "I don't know what gets into him sometimes."
"You don't have to apologize for him, Max. But thank you."
"I see more than Tyson does, I think. True, Kai's never been open with us, but I know he cares. After all, he goes and gets stuff for us when we're sick. He wouldn't do that if he didn't care, right?"
Rei smiled at him. "Yeah."
"I'm glad you two found each other. I don't pretend to know Kai at all, really, but he seems happier now that he has you. He seems less tense all the time. It's nice."
This time when Rei smiled it reached his eyes. "Thanks, Max."
"Welcome!" he chirped happily. "There, all done. Do you need any help with breakfast?"
The raven-haired teen stood and shook his head. "Nope. But you can hang out in the kitchen if you want to."
The blonde nodded happily and followed him out of the room, Tyson still oblivious to his surroundings.
-
Rei was back to humming to himself as he completed the breakfast he had started earlier, anger pushed to the back of his mind. Max sat at the stool Tyson had been at, kicking his feet and making his legs swing back and forth, looking like the quintessence of innocence.
That was the picture Kai came upon as he came out of his room after finishing his shower. Seeing that no one was around to notice, he allowed a small smile to form on his lips as he looked at his teammates. These were the times he cherished, making him forget all the times he got angry at them and wondered why he stayed. Moments where everything was quiet and peaceful where everyone looked like a family were why he stayed. Well, that and Rei.
He was about to enter the kitchen to alert the others of his presence when Tyson beat him to it and the atmosphere became tense. Kai looked on as Rei stopped humming and Max stopped kicking his feet, both looking at Tyson with guarded expressions. He wondered what had happened during the time he was showering that could have caused such turmoil in the group.
Tyson approached Rei, hands clasped nervously in front of him. "I'm sorry, Rei. I never should have said those things about Kai. You were right, I wasn't being fair and I'm sorry."
Kai felt a warmth spread throughout his chest at hearing Rei had been angered on his behalf. He looked to Rei, expecting to see instant forgiveness, but was surprised when the guarded look was still there. Whatever Tyson had said must have really upset him.
Rei looked at his teammate with an expression they had never seen on his face before. "Just because you might be having a bad morning, Tyson, doesn't give you the right to take it out on anyone else."
Tyson sunk his head further, eyes glued to the floor. "I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly.
Suddenly Rei smiled, convinced Tyson thought he was never going to be forgiven as tears started to form at the edges of his eyes. He stepped forward and embraced the dragon blader. "Apology accepted," he assured him quietly. He held him for a few more moments, then pulled back and wiped a stray tear from Tyson's face. "Have a seat. Max will you go get Kenny and Kai for me?"
Kai figured that was as good a cue as he was going to get and stepped forward into the kitchen. "No need."
Max hopped down from the stool. "I'll go get Kenny, then. Be right back! Don't eat all the bacon, Tyson!"
All Tyson managed was a weak smile, as he didn't think he was really forgiven yet. Rei saw this and quickly grabbed a smaller plate and filled it with the extra bacon he made. When he was done, he went over to Tyson and put it in front of him.
"Don't worry, Tyson. I made some extra for you," Rei said with a wink.
Tyson looked up at him and gave him a real smile, knowing everything was all right. "Thanks, Rei."
"No big. I knew it was your favorite breakfast food so I made some extra. That way we won't have to fight you for it."
"Ha ha."
Rei laughed quietly to himself as he set the table, first laying out plates and silverware, then the food. By the time Max came back with Kenny, he was setting out cups for drinks. The Chief greeted them all with a soft 'good morning' and took a seat next to Tyson.
He surprised Rei with his next words. "Are you all right, Rei?"
Rei blinked as all attention was brought onto him, including a very scrutinizing gaze that he recognized immediately. "Yeah, why?"
Kenny looked pointedly at his hand. "You have a bandage wrapped around your hand. What happened?"
Kai narrowed his eyes as he spotted the white cloth wrapped around his lover's palm, cursing himself for not noticing sooner. But Rei did seem all right…
The neko-jin blushed and hid his hand behind his back. "It's all right, Chief. I just got a little careless, that's all. I…lost my grip. Don't worry, Max patched me up."
The blush on Rei's cheeks suddenly made its way onto Max's as he laughed nervously. "Uh…yeah…So, Rei, how are those drinks?"
XxXxXxX
After breakfast was done, Kai shooed Rei off to shower while the rest of them cleaned up their own messes, much to the Neko-jin's appreciation. Once the kitchen was as clean as it was before, Kai retired back to his room, giving the others a time limit of one hour before training started. Sitting on his bed with Dranzer in his hand, the bluenet tried to reason out what had gotten Rei so upset earlier. He knew it had had something to do with him, but that was the extent of his knowledge.
The captain was so lost in thought that he failed to notice the other boy finally exit the bathroom, nothing but a towel covering his body. The other occupant of the room crossed over to his own bed took out a travel bag from underneath it. Rei opened it to reveal multiple articles of clothing, of which he sorted through, finally choosing to wear his normal out fit. Thinking was becoming too much of a hassle…Perhaps that was why his hand caught on a stray piece of metal. Rei let out a soft curse as his already-injured hand caught on something sharp. He winced as his wounds re-opened and started to bleed again.
Hearing the rare curse from his lover, Kai was snapped out of his thoughts and by Rei's side in a flash. His eyes flashed in sympathy as he took in Rei's wince. Gently, he took Rei's hand in his own, frowning at the blood that was starting to pool in his palm.
"What happened?"
"It caught on some metal sticking out of my bag…"
Kai shook his head. "To cause it in the first place. What happened?"
Rei sighed. "Like I told Kenny, I was careless. I was angry and careless…"
Grabbing a tissue from the table beside the bed, Kai started to clean the redness from Rei's hand. As he did, he noticed the wounds were in the shape of nails. From there he was able to piece together what happened. "You need to trim your nails, love, if you're going to injure yourself with them."
As he always did, Rei blushed and smiled at the name. "They're a part of me, I can't just trim them. Besides, they've saved me before and I'm not about to rid myself of a good weapon. I just have to be more careful."
"Tyson got to you that much?"
Rei sighed again, smile fading as he looked down. "Yeah. It was the same things, over and over again. I don't think he realizes who he vents to. The whole thing was set off by his dreams last night. He said you made him train."
Kai snorted, smirking. "Good for me. Maybe he learned something."
"I hope so. I'm just sick of hearing him badmouth you, especially when he doesn't have a right to. He doesn't know you like I do."
The captain threw the now-reddened tissue away and stood, taking Rei into the bathroom. "Thank God for small miracles. Rei, I don't want anyone else to know me like you do."
"I know, but…just a little. Max understands. Sort of. I don't know what I'm trying to say."
Kai smiled and sat his lover down on the closed toilet seat, kissing his forehead. "I do. And thank you for defending me. It's nice. I've never had anyone do that before."
Rei beamed back at him. "I always will. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone."
Running his hand through Rei's hair and bringing it to rest against his cheek in his favorite motion, Kai leaned down and kissed him. "Me, too. Don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'll never find out. Now, are you going to bandage me up or let me turn anemic?"
Kai rolled his eyes and got out another bandage. As he was wrapping Rei's hand, a mischievous smile crept upon him. "Since I'm already playing doctor, why don't I just check to make sure you weren't careless with anything else?"
Cheeks instantly turning red, Rei squeaked as Kai's hand found its way to a very…private area. "Kai!"
XxXxXxX
Isn't he evil? I swear, Kai can't keep his hands to himself.
Anyway, there's the official first chapter. Let me know what you think. The next chapter will have some action—not of the sexual kind, however. I don't write lemons…I get embarrassed just thinking about it. The plot starts to actually happen in chapter two, so stay tuned. I don't know when I'll be able to finish writing it since school's been getting a little crazy, but I'll do what I can. Reviews help motivate, so keep that in mind. Thanks a bunch!