A/N: Hey again! Thanks for all the reviews once more, they really cheer me up :). Keep them coming, please.

Disclaimer: Beyblade belongs to its rightful owner which is not me although I own this fic.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, angst…

"Here you go, mister, have a nice day!" a woman standing behind the counter wished as she offered a small packet to the boy. The boy nodded and took the packet.

"Thank you," he said quietly as if talking more to himself than to the woman. He turned and quickly strode to the door, opening the packet and taking out a sheaf of photographs. There he stopped and swiftly browsed the pictures through until he found what he was looking for. Then he dropped all but one of the pictures into a trashcan near the door before walking out of the photography studio. The one photograph he stuffed deep into his pocket.

Meeting the cold winter outside made the boy pull his coat tighter around himself as he continued walking in quick pace. He was glad his next destination wasn't too far and soon he found himself standing in front of a familiar Chinese restaurant. He glanced at his clock. He was early today. As he had been every morning for the past three months.

He put his hand on the handle and pulled lightly. The door started opening with ease. 'Lee must be here already…' The boy pulled the door fully open and stepped in to the still empty restaurant.

"Ah, good morning Rei, I see you're early again," the familiar voice came from behind the counter and as the addressed boy turned his gaze towards the voice he met a pair of bronze eyes observing him sharply.

Rei sighed and walked over to the other boy, "Morning, Lee," he smiled briefly and continued to walk towards the backroom.

He was, however, stopped as something pink came through the door quickly making him flinch with surprise, "Rei!" the girl was hardly able to stop before she knocked the stunned teen over. She stood there before the boy for a good while, watching him just stare in utter confusion. Then she sighed and waved a hand in front of his face, making him flinch again as he snapped out of his trance, "Have you been lacking sleep again?" she asked motherly.

"Eh… Mariah? I… uh…" Rei stuttered, stepping back a few steps.

"Listen Rei, we've been thinking… should you take a few days off?" Lee said from behind the ebony-haired boy, making him spin around on his heels.

"Huh? Wha–" Rei blinked, "But I need–"

Mariah let out another deep sigh, "You know, you've been a total workaholic ever since Kai–" she suddenly went quiet, not sure if she should finish the sentence. Rei just stared at her with a blank expression on his face.

Then, after a long silence, his voice came quietly, "But I need to do something…"

"But Rei, we're worried about you," the girl exclaimed emphatically, "You never sleep and you hardly even eat nowadays!" Rei remained silent, just staring at the girl coldly. How could she think she had any right to say those things to a person who had lost the only reason to live for? It was his own problem how he lived his life, no one else's.

"Knock it off, Mariah," Lee's voice commanded firmly beside the ebony-haired boy, "And Rei, I'm going to fire you if you won't do as I say," he stared at the other boy challengingly, waiting for his reply.

Slowly the boy took in the information and his eyes widened slightly as he turned to look at his employer, "You…" he whispered, "you wouldn't…" The other boy just nodded, making Rei's eyes widen even more, "But I need this job!" his voice had surprisingly much strength.

Now Lee smiled, "I know," he turned and walked back behind the counter to continue what he was doing earlier, "that's why you're having a few days off," his voice told the younger boy clearly that he had no options. Rei stared at him for a moment, his eyes slowly regaining their normal size. Then he closed his eyes in defeat and smiled faintly.

Without anything more said, Rei walked back out to face the cold winter air again, sooner than he had originally planned. He headed straight to his apartment that wasn't too far from the restaurant. He was no longer living in the apartment he had shared with Kai since he alone could never afford living in it. Actually you could say it had been Kai's apartment since he had paid a lot more of it than Rei. But it had been a fine arrangement for the both of them since Rei in any case had done his best to pay his share. And when Rei had sometimes felt bad for that he couldn't pay as much as Kai, the slate-haired boy would just smirk and tell him he did pay an equal share… just a bit differently. That's when Rei would always burst out laughing and tell him he was a total pervert. But it had always made him forget his sadness. Kai had had that power over him.

Rei stopped his musing as he saw a familiar, slightly older boy leaning against his door. A boy he hadn't seen in three months. The sight made the Chinese teen tense and he actually considered turning and running away. But the other boy had already seen him and was now staring at him firmly, a small smirk forming onto his lips.

"Good morning, Kon," the visitor greeted smugly as Rei stood in front of him.

"Step aside, Bryan," the ebony-haired boy ordered, his voice unfamiliarly harsh. This only made the Russian chuckle slightly.

"No, I can't do that until you have listened to what I have to say," he said, indeed not making a move to do as was told. Rei merely glared at him. Bryan took this as a cue for him to continue, "There's a party tomorrow night and you need to be there," he said simply. Rei raised an eyebrow.

"I'll pass," he then said bluntly, drawing more chuckles from the older boy.

"It was an order," the Russian said, straightening up, "there will be a person present that will probably buy the box you stole back then," he explained. Rei just stared at him, surprised that they hadn't sold it until now.

Then he shook his head, "No, you can go with Tala," he wanted nothing more to do with that damned box he had grown to hate during the time he had been alone. For some reason he considered that the reason for Kai's death.

"Rei," the ebony haired boy looked up at the mention of his name, locking his eyes with those lavender of Bryan's, "You will come," Rei shivered slightly at the strange tone of the Russian's voice. He knew he had heard it before. It was like it locked him there where he stood and make him unable to move, unable to object.

"Yes," he heard his voice say without his permission.

Bryan smirked and broke the eye contact, walking past him smoothly, his long black coat waving behind him, "Be ready at eight tomorrow night. And don't forget to put on your best suit, it's an elite party," he said before walking away, leaving the puzzled boy standing there as if being in trance.

"Rei!" the Chinese boy flinched slightly and turned to face a blond-haired boy running towards him, "What are you doing?" the boy asked as he stopped in front of him, panting slightly.

"Uh," was all Rei was able to say. Then he glanced around and noticed he was still standing at his front door. 'When did Bryan leave?' Then he noticed the younger boy next to him, "Ah, Max…," he sighed, "Nothing. Would you like to come inside?" he offered politely.

The other teen nodded happily. Rei smiled and stuck his hand in his pocket, taking out his key. While doing so he also accidentally dropped a photograph onto the ground. Max bent over to raise it for him. The boy looked at the photo for a moment and then turned to gaze at Rei who had just gotten the door opened. He obviously hadn't noticed dropping the picture.

"Is this Kai?" Max's question made Rei turn around quickly.

"Huh?" he looked down at what his friend was holding. He recognised it to be one of the photographs he had had made earlier that day. It was the only one he had saved. In the picture there were him and Kai probably a few months ago. He couldn't exactly remember when or why it had been taken but that was the only picture where Kai had ever smiled that absolutely gorgeous and sadly rare smile of his. Rei smiled softly and glanced at Max quickly. The other boy had his eyes glued to the photo, "Didn't you ever meet him?" Rei asked a bit surprised. Max shook his head slowly, moving his eyes from Kai's deep crimson pools to Rei's golden ones, "You probably wouldn't have liked him," Rei said offhandedly as he took the picture from Max and stuck it back into his pocket before stepping into his apartment.

Max blinked a couple of times before following the older boy into the house, "Aren't you supposed to say I would have liked him?"

Rei let out a brief, dry laugh, "No, it's exactly how I said it," he told, taking off his coat.

Max also took off his coat and followed the Chinese teen to the small kitchen, "How come?"

Rei walked over to one of his cupboards and took out a kettle, "Would you like to have some tea?" he looked at the other boy questioningly and got a nod for an answer. Now he filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove. Then he went for another cupboard to look for all the other things he needed. Then he remembered Max hadn't gotten his answer yet. Maybe he just didn't want to answer. He still found it a bit uncomfortable to talk about Kai. It was as if it made him think about the dual-haired boy and he actually didn't want to think about him. He just wanted to forget everything that happened. But the truth was he was thinking about Kai all the time, 'I guess it can't be helped,' he sighed, "Um… he wasn't always friendly…" he glanced at Max and saw him looking slightly surprised. Perhaps he wasn't expecting Rei to answer anymore, "…pretty rarely actually."

Max raised an eyebrow, "Oh." He found himself wondering why Rei had been so in love with this Kai then. At least the Rei he knew was so kind it was hard for him to imagine him being with someone who was not. He snapped back to his senses as Rei motioned for him to take a seat at the table. Rei wouldn't let him help so he did as was told. Soon he had a cup of steaming tea in front of him and Rei had even offered him some cookies, bewailing he didn't have much to serve. That he would have bought something if he had known Max was coming. But Max just told him it was fine.

Now they were sitting in silence, Rei staring out a window while Max was gazing at his friend who hadn't even touched his tea yet although it must have been cold already, "Uh, Rei," Max broke the silence, making the other boy look at him, "I went to the restaurant today but Mariah told me you're at home."

Rei narrowed his eyes a bit, "Did she tell you to come here?" he asked blankly.

"Yeah, I mean… I would have come anyway. We're all worried about you, Rei, you never talk about it," Rei could tell Max was sincere, "really, you will only hurt yourself by doing that."

Now Rei looked directly at his friend, "By doing what?"

"By hiding behind that mask," Now Max reached over the table and took hold of the ebony-haired teen's hand, "Rei, please, I want you to talk to me."

Rei stared down at Max's hand for a good while as if pondering what to do. Then he drew his hand away and stood up, gazing down at the blond boy, "I have nothing to talk about," with this he made his way to the living room. Max followed soon after and found the neko-jin curled up in a corner of a huge couch in the middle of the room. He had hidden his face into his knees.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he walked over to his friend. All he got was a nod. He sighed, "Fine, but know that when you are ready, I'll be listening, okay?" Another nod. Max dropped himself next to the other boy.

After ten minutes of somewhat awkward silence, Max turned to look at Rei again. He hadn't moved at all, "Do you want me to go?" he asked. Rei shook his head. Max smiled and stood up. Now Rei raised his head and looked at him questioningly, "Do you want to watch films? I brought some films I thought you might like…" Now Rei gave him a small smile followed by an equally small nod.

Soon they were watching some vampire movie. Or more like Max was watching a vampire movie. Rei had fallen into a restless sleep soon after the film had started.

Rei heard faint peeping sounds echoing around him as he started regaining consciousness. Slowly his eyes fluttered open and he saw nothing but white at first. Then everything started to get forms. There was a table and a chair next to the bed he was lying on. Everything was still white but at least they had shapes now. At first he didn't know where he was and what had happened. Then suddenly it all rushed into his mind, making him shoot up so quickly he fell off the bed. Piercing pain shot through his body starting from the cuts on his neck. He raised his hand to feel his neck and noticed the wounds had been bandaged.

He ripped off a couple of tubes from his hands and stood up a bit shakily, taking support from the bed.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and a nurse walked in, stopping as she saw the boy standing, "Sir, you really should get back to bed," she said, offering to help the boy.

But Rei just shook his head violently, "No, I need to see Kai," He took a few steps towards the door but the nurse stopped him.

"It's not safe, you have lost too much blood. You need to rest," again she tried to help him but now he just shoved her aside rather harshly.

"No! What I need is to see Kai!" he shouted, forcing his legs to carry him to the door and along the hallway as he checked the names on the doors. Finally there was a door which said, 'Hiwatari Kai'. Rei sighed and opened the door, walking in quietly.

The room was similar to his. There was a bed in the middle of it surrounded by all kinds of life supporting machines. And in the middle of it all was Kai, appearing to be asleep. Rei walked beside the bed, taking support from it. He felt tears forming into his eyes. Kai looked so small, so fragile. And he looked so very tired.

"Kai?" Rei whispered, "Wake up, Kai," he reached out his hand to stroke a few slate-coloured strands away from the other boy's face. Nothing happened. Even the strands fell back to their previous positions. Rei heard himself letting out a small sob, "Kai, please… don't die. I can't make it without you." He felt his legs give way and he fell onto the floor, crying hopelessly.

He stretched out a hand to look for the chair that was beside the bed. Once he found it, he pulled himself back up with the help of the object, dropping down to sit on it. He moved the chair closer to the bed.

"I love you," he sobbed, placing a hand on the other boy's cheek to stroke it gently. It was so perfectly soft. The whole person the cheek belonged to was perfect in Rei's opinion. And to him, already that alone was a perfectly good reason as to why Kai couldn't die. The world needed perfect people. Rei sighed and suddenly feeling very tired he rested his head on the bed next to Kai's.

All of a sudden the regular peeps changed into a very rapid ones, waking the neko-jin up with a startle. He hadn't even noticed falling asleep. Now he jumped up, almost losing his balance.

"Help," he gasped, only faintly understanding what was happening. Then his eyes widened with utter terror, "Somebody, please!" he screamed, grabbing Kai's hand in a tight grip as if believing that would save them both.

Then he was pulled away from the boy as a couple of doctors ran into the room, "No! Kai!" Rei heard himself screaming again as his vision was blurred by his uncontrollably flowing tears. Someone held him back, making sure he wouldn't run back to his boyfriend. And he was too weak to resist. Then someone was shaking him.

Rei woke up to his own scream. The shaking stopped and a scared looking Max moved a bit away from the gasping teen, "Rei, it's ok now," he whispered, "it was just a dream."

"No," Rei sobbed, now shaking madly, "he- he died," the boy broke down into a desperate cry. Max gave his friend a sympathetic look and moved closer, pulling the boy into a comforting hug. Rei's sobs just seemed to get stronger as he clung onto his friend tightly, "I'm sorry," Max's shirt muffled his cry.

"No," Max closed his eyes, his heart aching just for the thought of his friend being in such pain, "you have every right to be sad."

"Bu- but he… he left me," Rei tightened his hold on Max's shirt, "he wanted to get away from me…" a tear-filled gasp, "…for he didn't love me anymore-" a choked sob, "it's all my fault!"

Max snapped his eyes open and pushed the older boy away from him so that he could have a good look at him. He gazed at the boy almost angrily, "Stop it! It wasn't your fault so don't blame yourself," Rei had started shaking again.

"But he left me…" he sobbed out his whisper. Now Max stood up and marched away.

Soon he came back and held the picture of Kai and Rei in front of the other boy, "Look! Would he be smiling like that if he didn't love you, huh?" he questioned firmly. Rei just stared at the photo for a long time, his sobs slowly dying into little gasps. Finally he took the picture into his hand and curled up in a ball, sending a small smile to Max.

Max returned the smile, "I should probably get going, it's quite late already…" To this Rei only nodded, already spacing out into his little world where was room only for him, the photograph and his memories.