"A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more."
-Jasmine Fitzwilliam

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 9: For Better or for Worse

Something was dripping. Water. No, it's not water… it's blood.

My blood.

But I don't feel pain; I feel pride inside my heart. Who is that? Silver long hair accented with icy blue streaks, and cold grey eyes. Who are you? You look so angry. Are you angry at me? I see a smile on your face but you do not look happy at all, you look deceived and so frustrated at me. What did I do?

I looked around and saw them, Tyson, Max, Kenny, Ray, and Kai. I wanted to scream for their help but suddenly they disappeared from view. I looked back at the lady who stood across from me, then I realized that we were separated by a dish, a beyblading dish and Starlet was there. He was with me. And there was another bitbeast, one that I did not recognize. The bitbeast was a grey-blue fox that had blood crimson eyes and his fur was stained by blood. Its fangs were long and sharp and his attacks, I assumed, consisted of ice and poison.

I heard her laugh. That laugh reminded me of someone else's but that was impossible. But they were very much alike, both perfect, both beautiful but they were completely different too.

I felt a whip strike against my back. A ripping pain, greater than anything that I've faced before. I wanted to yell out in pain but nothing came out. I felt warm virgin tears glide down my cheeks and I felt so weak, never weaker. But I wasn't going to collapse, not in front of her. No, not in front of her, I told myself. I mustn't be weak; she cannot see my weakness inside. I can fight this. She was the mistress. And I was the slave. But so what?

The air was chilly. And Starlet was struggling, with each movement that Starlet made, I lost energy. But still, there was a small hint of hope in my heart, I wondered why.

"We need both fire and thunder, Starlet. Please, I have strength. I believe in you," I said, softly.

I looked at Starlet as he sent a full blast of flame to the opponent and immediately switched to its horse form to send a big jolt of electricity. The ice that has been melted turned into water so the electricity zapped the fox beast. It moved back and I could see that it was hurt, but still its power was too much for Starlet. I felt the attacks that it sent to Starlet because I felt those icicles slash my legs and arms. I saw Starlet, in his horse form, ready to collapse. But I knew that if I didn't, he wouldn't either. I still have strength for you, Starlet. Just a little bit. We can make it through. I couldn't believe it but a smile, a true smile, appeared on my face. I could feel myself getting warmer and my heart was content. I sighed and looked at my hands covered in blood.

There was only one more thing that I could do… yes. One more thing. Be ready for me, Starlet. Be ready. 'Cause everything will be alright from now on. She'll trouble us no more. She'll trouble us no more. Let's go Starlet, one more shot and heaven will greet us with its kind and open arms.

When Forrest woke up, that morning on Thursday, November 23rd she had already been in Japan for three weeks. She wasn't sure what word she could use to describe her life in Japan. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't that bad either but it was certain different.

Yes, different. And my dreams are different too, Forrest thought as she tried to remember the dream that she just had. But she only remembered blood, grey eyes and a beyblading arena. Nothing else, nothing less. She scratched the thought out of her head and dressed in her uniforms. There were no swim practices on Thursdays so she only woke up at seven thirty.

The only person that she didn't quite get along with in the swim team was Felicia and a girl who wore a hot pink bikini. Forrest didn't know her name. Apparently Felicia was jealous that Forrest lived in the same house of her but Forrest wasn't really happy that she did. In fact, living with Kai was like living with an angry cat. The only things that Kai said were either 'hn' or 'mhmm'. If he ever talked, it was because that it was extremely important or he was bored out of his mind. In the past two weeks, Forrest got along with Janet, in her Japanese class, the Bladebreakers and Oliver in her French class, Shayna from the TV was both in her calculus and music classes so they became rather good friends inside and outside of school. At lunch, she still hung out with the Bladebreakers and sometime Shayna was around and Mariah came more often to their place because Aurora was there. Speaking of Aurora, the girl was in her music class and the dark brown haired girl sang a high soprano but nevertheless her voice was melodious. In English class, Forrest sat with Max, Emily and several others students and lastly in music, she had many friends to hang out with including Shayna, Aurora, Ray and Max.

But unfortunately she made some enemies too, like all of the people part of the Kai fan club. Of course, that wasn't the name of their club, they called themselves by some random acronym that Forrest would never remember. They despised her and vice-versa. One sad thing was that Forrest would always see Aurora with Ray. Everyday, Forrest started to dislike Aurora more, maybe she was jealous of her looks, maybe not. But from what she's seen, Aurora was too perfect. And she spoke to almost no one but to Ray. In music class, she often ignores Shayna and her and would stare at the instrumental group, more specifically at Ray and they would exchange gestures. It always distracted Forrest. In other words, Forrest and Aurora weren't great friends at all; in fact, Forrest knew that Aurora didn't like her. She could see the cold glances that the Chinese girl gave her. She didn't know why but nevertheless, they were nice to each other although they both knew that something was wrong.

Janet, who was in Forrest's first period—Japanese class, was a dynamic girl. They got along very well and Janet was much better than Forrest in Japanese so Forrest needed a lot of help from both Janet in class and Kai outside of class. But weirdly, Janet had a crush on Kai so Forrest often assured that Kai was a great guy and that he wasn't dating anyone, but it wasn't true, Kai was still heartless to her and he was still dating that Felicia. To see Janet smile was a pretty sight, her eyes were so innocent and her hair gave an expression that she was a fire goddess. Her almost-orange eyes always sparkled with hope.

Tala, who was a strange character for her, was still mean to Forrest but they managed to escape each other's wraths often by not talking to each other. But sometime it grew impossible because Tala came to the Hiwatari mansion often and it seems that they always ran into each other in hallways or at the club.

Otherwise, not much happened in her new school. Forrest has been trying hard to lead her relay team the way to the swimming provincial championships in spring. They worked extremely hard and it was a great sight to see Felicia argue with her teammates.

Forrest ran down the stairs after she did all her morning preparations. She took a seat in the dinning room and ate a quick breakfast and set off. James's black car was waiting for them and she could see Kai's angry face through the window. She had to admit that somehow the blue-haired boy always came earlier than her.

But by that time, Forrest knew not to interrupt him, so she ignored him throughout the whole trip. As she got out of the car, she waved goodbye to James and walked to her Japanese class.

To her happiness, Miss Akiyo's mood got better but still, her lessons were dull and boring. Since the Wednesday of the week before, they had started working on their first essay and they've been writing it over and over again, proofreading and having others edit it so many times but Forrest knew half of the class's essay by heart. That day was no different.

"Janet!" Forrest exclaimed. "Remember, today, in front of the school right after school," she said as she winked and got out of the class. During the whole Japanese class, she didn't have the chance to talk to her seat partner because they had to stay quiet for the whole time.

She made her way to French class, by then she knew the way perfectly, and entered the room. She grinned at Oliver and the Bladebreakers. That day, they had to present their project that they'd been working on for a long time. It turned out great with Oliver's great French skills. Surprisingly, Kai was a great researcher so Forrest helped him write and she did the visual part of the project. The project included a big written essay on daily life, geographic things like climate, mountains and etc., and French history of the country. The three members of the group, Kai, Oliver and Forrest each took a subject. For the presentation, they had to act out a 15-minutes long skit about daily life that included things about climates and politics of the country. Then they had to sing the national anthem, which became Forrest's job. And of course, the whole thing was in French.

The first group who went was Tyson, Ray and a girl that Forrest did not know. They did a research on Quebec, Canada because Tyson was too lazy to do anything too hard. It ended with Tyson singing the national anthem badly and everyone had a great laugh at him in the end. But still, the presentation was great. The second group consisted of three people that Forrest did not know, they did it on Cote-D'ivoire and did a not-so-bad job on it. Then the third group was Max and two girls. They did the project on Switzerland.

Then it was Forrest and her group's turn. She wasn't scared mainly because of going on stage often in her club. This isn't different, she told herself as she carried several props to the front of class. The skit was very well constructed, it was about a family, Kai being the brother and Forrest being the sister, having a visitor from France, Oliver, and they talked about things like daily life. It was dull but they couldn't think of anything else, Forrest had to admit that it was no better or worse than anyone else's. But at the end, Forrest was glad that she gave everyone a shock by singing the national anthem with pride and her melodious voice rang through the room. Everyone gave either a polite clap or a sincere clap meaning that they've done well.

Oh man, she said, sighing. Calculus. Forrest waved to the Bladebreakers and made her way to calculus without waiting for Kai. For she knew that Kai would either meet with Felicia or maybe Tala along the way.

The bell rang and Forrest immediately bolted out of her spot in music. She walked to Shayna and grinned. Shayna had managed to sing and listen to her loud music at the same time, which Forrest found quite amazing. Forrest had a passion of music but obviously it wasn't enough to beat Shayna's.

"Come on! James is probably already waiting for us at the door," Forrest said as she dragged Shayna little bit. Shayna rolled her eyes and packed her music folder into her backpack, she swung it to her shoulder. Forrest noticed the iPod shuffle clipped to Shayna's skirt and she giggled slightly.

Forrest led the way to the entrance of the school where James waited for them with a black van this time. Apparently most of their group was going to the Hiwatari mansion for a quick get together. Why Thursday? Because they had a holiday on Friday so that they could sleep over. Forrest wasn't sure why but she didn't care. Having a break was fun because she knew that she had to go to the club for a long performance on Friday night.

"Sorry. Sort of late," Forrest mumbled as she got into the car with Shayna behind her. Ray, Aurora, Max, Emily and Mariah were going in Ray's car so only Shayna, Kai, Janet, Tala, Tyson, and Forrest were in the van.

James pressed on the gas pedal and set off in the semi-crowded streets to the Hiwatari place. It took about five minutes by car and they all got off. Janet was admiring the mansion while Shayna was still listening to her music.

"In, in, come on!" Forrest said happily as she turned the key and opened the double doors to the Hiwatari mansion. Several maids were lined up and greeted Forrest.

"We have a lot of food prepared, Miss Forrest," one of the maid said.

Forrest thanked them and led the way to the study room. Shayna and Janet both gave smiles as they made their way to the study room.

They heard the doorbell and rang and that was the cue that everyone arrived.

"We have about two hours until dinnertime. What do you guys want to do?" Forrest asked casually as the others, including Ray and company, arrived in the room.

The usually empty study room was now filled with 11 people.

"Spin the bottle truth or dare!" Max exclaimed, grinning childishly.

Forrest gave a roll of her eyes and looked disgusted. She looked around and saw, to her horror, everyone either nod or shrug. Alright, we're all 15 or 16. There's nothing wrong that we can do, right? she asked herself.

Janet took out a water bottle from her backpack, she drank the little remainder left and placed it on the floor. Slowly, everyone came in a circle and sat around the bottle.

"I'm going first!" Mariah exclaimed as she turned the bottle.

It landed on Aurora.

"Well, truth or dare," Mariah asked.

"Dare…," Aurora said with her soft voice.

Mariah gave an evil grin. "Well, I won't make you snog Ray, of course, I don't need to dare you for that. I dare you to… get on the floor, and moan out each people's name here. Including the girls, and please make it look real," Mariah added.

Aurora gave a disgusted look to Mariah but obeyed. She laid back and Forrest had to admit that the girl started to look slutty.

"Mhm, Ray," she moaned, easily. "Tysonnn…," she closed her eyes and licked her lips.

Forrest gave a disgusted look and turned her attention to the window.

"Maax," the Chinese girl continued, around the circle of people. "Emilyy… Shayyyyna, Janet, Forreeeest. Mmhmm… Kaiiii, Talaaaaa," she paused. "Mariaaah."

Forrest turned her gaze back to the circle of people and scowled at nothing in particular. Aurora was back sitting on the carpet and several people looked at her with an amused expression while others looked at her with a disgusted one. Mariah giggled in a high pitch tone.

Aurora spun the bottle and it landed on Tala.

"Truth," Tala said, immediately.

"How many girls did you ever kiss?" she asked.

Forrest almost laughed out loud at the question. It was a lame question.

"I donno, not that many, and I don't count," he said, shrugging, his aquamarine eyes with an unenthusiastic expression.

He then spun the bottle and landed on Shayna.

"Truth or dare?" he asked. Shayna shrugged.

"Truth," she said.

"Who would you hate to shag in here? Name three guys," he asked.

Another lame questions, Forrest thought.

"Tyson," Shayna started. "Max, Ray, Kai and you," she said.

"I said three…," Tala said, pocking an eyebrow.

Shayna shrugged. "I wouldn't kiss any of you anyway."

Shayna spun the bottle and it landed on Tyson.

"Dare," the boy said.

"Alright… lip lock with Forrest for thirty seconds," Shayna said, grinning slightly.

Immediately, both Forrest and Tyson gave a scream. "What the fuck!" Forrest hollered.

"Alright, alright. I dare you to not go to the bathroom until midnight. So watch out when you eat," the jet-black haired girl said. Forrest snorted at this. Several others chuckled.

Tyson spun the bottle and landed on Kai. Tyson gave a scared look.

"Dare," Kai said, shrugging.

"Alright, how about this. The guys will step out, you spin the bottle, and you go with that person in the closet for seven minutes of heaven—unless you're gay or something," he said. Kai gave him a glare.

Forrest gulped but she noticed that Kai shrugged a little.

He spun the bottle and it landed between Janet and Forrest. Forrest almost fainted at this. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin and she closed her eyes to soothe herself.

This is horrible. Let Janet go snog him, she thought as she took some nervous breaths.

"Seven minutes each?" Tyson asked, innocently.

Kai practically barked at him and kept his glare on the black-blue haired boy.

"We'll vote!" Tyson exclaimed. "I go for Janet." Forrest relaxed slightly.

"Janet," Max said, shrugging. Forrest looked at Janet and noticed that Janet was blushing furiously.

"Forrest," Emily said, grinning widely. Forrest felt herself flush but covered her cheeks as she drew her knees to her chest.

"Forrest," Shayna said as she gave a laugh. "Go get him, girl."

Forrest glared at Shayna and tried to give her a puppy face but it didn't work because Shayna rolled her eyes.

"Kai, you get to chose or else it's going to be even," Tyson said.

Who? Forrest looks like she is going to kill me if I choose her, Kai thought as he gave a smirk. I certainly don't want the rest of my life to be a living hell. "Janet," he said, shrugging.

Janet felt her cheeks heat up terribly, she really looked like she was on fire with her flaming hair. She took the fact ath Kai chose her as a big hint and step towards her ideal guy.

"Forrest," Tala said, smirking, too.

"Forrest!" Mariah piped as she giggled evilly.

"Janet," Aurora said, with a rather impatient voice.

Oh man, Ray. It's a tie, go for Janet… please. Oh please, please, please, Forrest pleaded.

"Janet… Just kidding! God, look at your face, Forrest! Come on, go Forrest!" Ray said, chuckling. Forrest completely relaxed at first but then she glared at Ray as he finished his choice. Her eyes shot him daggers and she fumed.

"Go girl," Shayna said between laughs. Mariah got up and shoved Forrest to the small closet. Tyson did the same to Kai but the gray-and-blue haired boy walked himself to the closet while Forrest had to be pushed there.

Forrest shot some annoyed glances at the group of so-called friends and glared at them. "Please, please, please…"

Mariah shook her head and took out a lipstick.

"Just to make sure that you guys do something, you know," Mariah said as she rolled the dark pink lipstick on Forrest's lips. Forrest grimaced, she hated lipsticks but she hated more the feeling of being in a closet with Kai. Then suddenly, Mariah shoved her in and closed the door behind her.

She felt two strong arms catch her. She tensed against his body, it was to her surprise that he wasn't feeling too comfortable around her anymore.

"Look, this is disgusting. You might as well as sit there and kick the wall a little bit so that they think that we're doing something. I'll just smudge my lipstick and we can get out of here in seven minutes. Then it's revenge time," Forrest whispered, with no apparent enthusiasm. She was babbling again.

She could see him shrug in the dark. And she tensed up; the closet was used as a storage room. It was mainly filled with boxes pilled on more boxes. Forrest was sitting with her legs stretched in front of her and she could feel Kai beside her. She fondled with her pockets and took out her cell phone. After she pressed a random button, the cell phone gave some light so that Forrest could see Kai. He was looking in her direction with his captivating mahogany eyes and he looked like he was deep in thoughts.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Hn."

"You know," she picked a topic of conversation, "I was pretty scared of you Friday night, you were drunk and I had to drag you up the stairs but luckily James came," she whispered. The cell phone light faded away. "And you thought that I was Felicia. I hate you for that."

"Why?" he simply asked.

"Because you kissed me, you moron." Her voice was rather shaky. Her legs shaking, Forrest pressed her back completely against the wall, trying to get away from the boy.

"Right..." He didn't exactly believe her.

"Five and a half minutes left," Forrest mumbled.

"You guys, we don't hear anything!" Mariah exclaimed, giggling. Forrest rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Too bad!" the green-eyed girl yelled back.

Kai brushed his knees against hers and Forrest suddenly curled herself into a ball, afraid of his touch.

"You know, today's presentation was awesome," she said, in a whisper again. He shrugged. "And I have to thank you for your Japanese lessons. I'm doing much better now."

"Are you just going to keep thanking me?" Kai said, sounding annoyed.

"Oh, sorry," Forrest mumbled, hiding her embarrassment. "Right, I'll be quiet." Kai gave an annoyed sound.

Suddenly the door was opened.

"Forrest, Kai!"

Forrest squinted her eyes, it was suddenly very bright, and saw pink hair. She groaned.

"You either do something or we're going to make you kiss Kai, with tongue and all," Mariah said, "with him on top of you," she added.

Forrest sighed and shook away the perverted mental pictures.

Forrest spun her head around and looked at Kai. She took a decision.

She leaned to him and pressed her delicate lips to his innocently. She was so unsure but it was worth getting rid of Mariah, besides, Kai had kissed her before, even though he was drunk. And it wasn't like it was her first kiss either.

He responded by kissing back and pinning her to the wall. Her head collided with the wall harsh at first the feeling of his fingers running up her thigh and grabbing her shirt from behind her waist was too ... hard to resist. God, he knew where to touch, when to move, and where she was most vulnerable.

In the corner of her eyes, Forrest saw Mariah grin and close the door. "Four more minutes!" the pink haired girl said, giggling.

His strong arms were against the wall. He could feel the girl's fast heartbeat as one of his palm ran over her chest quickly. He could feel her grow excited and scared at the same time. She was still... Forrest and she lacked experience.

He stopped and caught a breath but she groaned. Of course, it urged him to continue. He gave a glance at her and smirked. She's not a bad kisser, he thought, maybe that's why Ray liked her. Her hair was messy just like she had just awakened from a rough night—he let his imagination take over and he moaned as an after-effect. Oh God. He let go a little of her waist and his fingers traced accidentally against her derriere. He groaned.

Forrest was confused, Kai's lips tasted like chocolate covered mints, something close to heaven. The rich taste of melting chocolate then the strong scent of mint taking over. Her knees were so weak that she practically hung on him. Her arms were around his neck and she felt his hot breath against her cheeks. She couldn't help but to give a quick moan and she was even surprised that she did that. This is not right, if this continues, how am I going to face him afterwards? Her head screamed but her heart was melted by the fervent kiss. She felt his lips crash against hers again after his fingers grasped on her shirt and supported her. She felt a small pain in her chest as she felt his crash against hers. A tingling sensation ran through her body and she kissed him back willingly, tasting the chocolate flavor of his lips and smelling the refreshing mint in the air.

She gasped.

"No, Kai. Don't," Forrest mumbled against his lips, but still not letting go. But as time passed, they backed away from each other at the same time. "Sorry, I shouldn't. You're dating Felicia and she'd kill me if she—"

He stopped her with his index finger over her lips. She closed her eyes as relaxed.

"True, but let me tell you this. I've seen you. Your sad eyes, ready to cry when that girl Aurora Lyn came arm in arm with Ray. You don't deserve it. You're probably the first friend that I have, other than Tala and Ray, and you've earned my respect. You're so innocent and pure. You deserve someone. Someone better than Ray, or me, you deserve someone who will love you fully."

But if I could have you. I certainly will take you.

Forrest was shocked at the revelation. She was truly deceived when Aurora came back, but she never thought that someone other than her knew. Even Ray didn't seem to notice much, he was too busy lip-locking Aurora most of the time. And she never knew what relationships were about. Her first one was with Ray, and well Ray just saw her as a replacement of Aurora.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Sure, friend," he said. And those words were enough for Forrest. She knew deep down inside that a friendship with Kai could be not be valued, it was priceless. For the cold heartless bastard to open up for someone like her she must have done something amazing but she didn't.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you saw me as just another guy, like a roommate. Not a handsome boy that every other girl had a crush on or a cold and evil person. You saw me as a lonely guy who needed comfort and my parents were right. I do need comfort," he paused and drew in a big breath. "I hate to admit it but all the beyblading and acting strong made me weak in side, my heart might be made of ice but there's always someone to melt it and you did. I thank you for that, for looking deep down inside of me, not just at my cover," then he smiled, he truly smiled.

And Forrest felt her heart melt too. This cold and handsome prince whom she had known for merely three weeks has offered a great and sacred friendship and she was glad. She never felt more content. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. She could fear his chest against hers once again but this time, her heart didn't beat as fast. She felt his arms around her, pulling her in a friendly hug and she hugged him back, tightly. But she loosened her hold a little before her hormones took over again.

"You don't need to thank me, Kai. I'm your friend; I'll always be here for you, no matter what. I promise."

"Hn."

Forrest sweat dropped and giggled a little bit.

"Okay, time up!" came the high-pitched voice.

Forrest immediately pulled apart from the boy and she flushed. She stepped out of the closet to meet the eyes of several amused people. Those seven minutes felt like the longest moment of her life.

"Come on, we're hungry," Tyson said as his stomach grumbled and he laughed. Ray and Max chuckled along.

The Chinese boy offered his hand to Aurora and they both were up from the carpet. Forrest's eyes did not flash with jealousy this time. Max and Emily were sitting on the couch and Shayna was beside Emily, listening to music. Janet grinned and looked a bit sad at the same time.

"But, I never got to truth or dare anyone!" Forrest exclaimed. "Not fair," she pouted childishly.

Mariah gave a quick laugh and patted on Forrest's back.

"We'll start with you next time. And I believe that you had fun," Mariah winked.

Forrest walked to her friend Janet, knowing that Janet was attacked by jealousy.

"Oh come on, girl. We didn't do anything, let's go eat dinner," Forrest said. With that, Janet's mood got slightly better and she nodded.

"Yeah," the flaming-haired girl mumbled dreamily.

Author's Notes: Yes, I edited this chapter and added more to "the closet scene". Well, since this is rated PG-13/Teen those shouldn't be too bad.

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