Oh dear, it's the battle of the sexes, once again.

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 12: Slashed Apart

He stared at her for the whole night, watching her not-so-brilliant performance and her not-so-graceful movements in the club. She looked like she was trying her best and a smile graced her lips. But he knew that under that fake smile, something was wrong. And he had a slight guess why. It was true that she started backing away from him at times. He felt her friendship slip away; she would blush and be quiet around him, not like before. She used to blabber nervously and he actually enjoyed listening to her ramblings.

But we are friends. Aren't we? She was the first girl whom I socialized with, he thought as he turned his cup of soda in his hand as he sighed. Felicia did not come that night so he was alone.

Soon a fight started between his heart and his brain.

You are weak, Kai. You have Felicia, what more do you want? Forrest is even weaker than Felicia.

But she's a strong person, I know she is and besides, I don't want her.

Women are weak.

She's not weak inside.

Being strong inside is not being strong. Think, Kai.

She'll tryout for the team, if she makes it fair and square, I won't stop her.

But you know that she's too weak to battle.

She's stronger than a lot of others. And she's courageous.

You like her.

Of course I do, I'm her friend. And we live in the same freaking house.

Don't be stupid, Kai.

He slowly got up and his eyes searched for Forrest through the dimly lighted but fancy VIP room. He saw her turn to him and a smile was on her face. He gave a slight nod to her then she went back to her work.

I will not fall for her, he assured himself. If I do, I'll be weak and besides, I'm far from it. His brain took over his heart. My grandfather has always taught me to not show emotions 'cause if I do, that'll be my weakness. And I need no weaknesses.

Time spent together was no long cherished between the two. It just happened on Christmas Eve, they interacted less. They talked less and somehow they even bumped into each other less. Somehow, he always found a way to avoid her and vice-versa. It was strange but they needed to be alone.

Christmas passed like expected. The usual people were invited to a party at Tyson's dojo. There was nothing too interesting; several people kissed under the mistletoe, gifts were exchanged and laughter rang in the dojo. But whenever Kai looked at Forrest, he found her eyes tainted with regret. He wondered why. He searched for the reason, caring a little for his so-called friend.

Then he noticed: it was him. She was regretting being with him. He didn't understand why. Is she scared of me, again? he asked himself as he remembered the incident on her first day of school. That's stupid. I've changed since then, and she did too.

As winter break ended, school started once again and the tryouts were about to start. For once, Kai wasn't thinking about his fading friendship with Forrest but whenever he spent time with her, he felt that they both knew what was going on. But they just both didn't want to speak about it. Luckily, not many people noticed.

Forrest was expecting the end of their friendship and the end of the relationship that never started, but Kai did not say anything. She could see that he became rather distant but she did not say anything about it. But she was glad that Kai still stayed by her side, even though she wasn't sure if he was being a friend or simply pitying her. She regretted even thinking that he would somehow care about her more than he cared about others. I'm just like the next girl, just like the next girl who walks behind him, she thought as she sighed. I'm so scared to fall for him. I'm so scared to admit that I did. And I can't, he'll ruin my whole life, Forrest thought as she watched her teammates swim at practice.

Her team was improving and luckily she was focused enough to not let her feelings mix with school things. Everything was just like normal, except for the distant glances that they sent to each other. In the hallways, she would hear murmurs about Kai and her, and she would ignore them. But sometimes, she was even curious herself. What did the others think of them? Did they think that they were friends? Or did they think that Forrest was just like another girl drooling over him?

Kai, on the other hand, was used of being a subject of gossip so he ignored them completely. At the mansion, he would see her practice beyblade everyday and he knew that something was going to happen after the tryouts, but he didn't know what. He just expected something to happen, he knew that Forrest was hiding something and he had a hinge that it was about him. She over-drank that night. She couldn't have meant it, he thought as he reflected over the night when she told him that she liked him. She told me that she wants us to be more than friends. But we are more than friends… we're house-mates. How close does that make us?

The date was January the 13th, it was the day of the tryouts and Kai knew why Forrest was short-tempered that day so he decided to avoid her. Forrest had been anticipating for that day for a whole month and she wasn't sure if she was ready yet.

There's all kinds of people wanting to join the Bladebreakers, and I think that they should. Many bladers are better than me but… they just live too far away. Do I stand a chance? she asked herself, starting to lose confidence. The tryouts were held in the gym at school and Forrest wasn't sure how many people were there. She scanned the room, there was about 50. She sighed.

She turned her gaze to the judges—the Bladebreakers, well the rest of them, not counting Ray, she thought. They all had a clipboard in their arms to keep score.

Maybe this is more serious than I thought it would be, she thought. Forrest thought that they were going to choose the winner of the tournament, but she guessed wrong. The team decided to give each person a score based on performance, attack, strategy and etc. and the person with the highest wins. Of course, if one competitor wins a match, they get scores added to their evaluations score. Kai stood up and Forrest found several girls staring at him, she rolled her eyes. Are they here for beyblading?

Kai, being the captain, explained the rules of the tryouts, how they were going to evaluate people and how each of them got a number and he was going to select people to battle against each other with their numbers in a hat. He drew the first two: 21 and 8.

A girl and a boy stepped to the center of the gym where a temporary dish sat. The girl stared at Kai and fluttered her eyelashes prettily. Forrest watched in disgust and rooted for the guy. The match started and it didn't last long because the girl had no skills whatsoever.

"If there's anyone more who can't beyblade here, get out!" Kai barked furiously. "This is a waste of time," he muttered under his breath. Forrest laughed out loud in the crowd. A dozen girls got out giggling and Kai fumed.

Tyson reached in the hat and drew two more numbers. "44 and 41!" he called.

This time, two guys appeared and both looked competitive. The match kept going for ten minutes and Kai called it a stalemate; they didn't have enough time to watch people blade for a long time.

Several other pairs went against each other before Forrest's number was called. She started getting impatient.

"25 and 13!" Max called. Forrest stepped to the arena with a half grin on her face. She was number 25. "Good luck, Forrest!" The green eyed girl smirked at the Bladebreakers and turned her attention to her opponent. It was a guy with light brown hair and he held his head high in confidence.

"Dating the team won't help you, stupid women," the guy spat.

"I'm not dating anyone and I'm not stupid, you sexist. Let it rip!" Forrest yelled as she launched her blade into the dish. Her opponent did the same.

The two blades collided against each other for several times. They hit each other in midair, they tried to dodge attacks and one physical attack after another was thrown at each other. Forrest got tired of it.

"Starlet, earthquake!"

A horse rose out of the black and yellow blade and suddenly the ground shook, the other blade was caught off guard so Starlet had a chance to charge towards it and knock it out of the dish. The light-brown haired boy blinked in confusion, he hadn't caught up what just happened.

"Number 25 wins! Next will be 49 and 23!" Tyson called as he drew out two slips of paper. Forrest smiled to herself and walked to the benches on the side. The next pair stepped to the dish quickly, not interrupting the process of things.

First round, check, she thought. Good job Starlet.

The black-and-blue haired girl was too delighted to feel tired, she watched nine more matches before the second round started. She watched for strong players and there were several of them, but only half of them had bitbeasts.

"Second round is starting!" Kai called as he put the winners' numbers in the hat and threw out the other slips. "47 and 23!"

Only sixteen people were left in the second round and most of them were boys. Forrest groaned. Two boys stepped to the arena and the match started. The two shared a short battle and Kai stopped them before one was defeated.

"That's enough," the cold-hearted captain said. "12 and 50!" he called. Two more guys followed and the same thing happened. Two more groups were called before a girl was in one of the battles. Forrest had lost all of her enthusiasm, she was about to fall asleep when she heard Kai call her number. "25 and 44!"

Forrest looked up and frowned, she was part of the last pair to blade in the second round. She lazily got up and eyed her opponent; it was a guy with long bangs that covered his eyes. He had a mysterious aura around him. She rolled her eyes. Without saying a word, Forrest launched her blade into the dish. Unfortunately, she had underestimated her opponent for he had a bitbeast and an unnatural one. It was a shadow. She wasn't sure exactly what it was.

"Mysterious, heh? Good one," she mumbled. "Starlet, fire tornado!"

A small tornado started forming as a winged lion appeared floating above the black-and-yellow blade. The temperature rose around them and soon the tornado was big enough to send the blade flying. But that wasn't enough to defeat him.

"Don't underestimate me," the guy muttered. His blade was burned badly but it did stop spinning or slow down. "Shadow curse!"

The attack went not to Starlet but to Forrest, the girl was hit full in the chest and she gasped. Horrible images appeared in her mind; people burning, blood dripping, rape, violence, ghosts, and a high shriek was left echoing in her mind and after a minute or so, Forrest regained herself. By then, Starlet was losing.

"So you control fear," she stated, frowning. A smile started to form on her lips. "But I'm not scared." Forrest regained her confidence and she saw her way around the beast. Since it's not physical and I can't attack it, I'll attack him. After all, he gave me the idea, she thought as she grinned to herself. Screw the rules.

Starlet read Forrest's thoughts and sent the guy flying in the midair with a wind attack. The mysterious opponent of hers was flung backwards to hit the wall. He bit his lip in embarrassment. Soon the blade, without the commands of its master, stopped spinning and the mysterious male yelled in anger.

"That's against the rules of the tryouts!"

"You didn't think about that when you attacked me with fear, did you? Deal with it," Forrest spat as she stepped away.

Kai didn't hesitate to keep going with the tryouts. "We are now done with the second round," he said with not much expression in his face or voice. "According to your scores, these people will move on: number 12, 23, 21, 2, 29, 11, 31 and 25".

"But I won the match!" a guy complained.

"But your performance sucked. You won by luck. Neither you nor your opponent deserves to be on the team, especially with that attitude. Now please get out!" Kai said flatly. He was definitely starting to lose his temper; after all, the tryouts were longer than he thought they could be.

Kenny took out the unwanted slips of paper and placed the rest back in the hat. He drew two numbers. "21 and 25!" he called. Forrest frowned.

But I just went! Can't I at least have the time to rest? But she knew better not to disobey to the order of matches. So she stepped to the center of the gym again. It was a boy who battled in the first match of the tryouts. Forrest had an advantage because she had analyzed the moves used in the first few battles before she got bored. His element is water so I'll go with electricity.

"You have no chance with me! I control water and you have fire. You're going down!" the boy said as he launched his blade but Forrest couldn't help but to laugh.

"Who said that my bitbeast controlled fire?" she asked, smirking. "Thunder rage!"

Kai witnessed the attack again; just like the first battle that he shared with Forrest. A mighty looking winged horse appeared and thunder followed a slight earthquake. The horse charged with its full force and knocked the other blade out of the dish after five attempts.

She grinned proudly and stepped to the benches with her beyblade in her hand. The boy left the gym while cursing his misfortune.

"12 and 2!" Tyson shouted as he drew two slips of paper out of the hat.

Forrest watched the next matches with slight enthusiasm as she nursed her headache. I have strength, come on, two more rounds, she told herself. She closed her eyes and tried to relax but it was impossible due to the fact that the bench felt hard like diamonds against her body. She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"The fourth round will start now! And according to the scores, numbers 23, 2, 29 and 25 will go on," Tyson announced as he gave a quick grin to Forrest. She smiled back. "And we will start this round with 23 and 2!"

Again, two boys walked to the center and they glared at each other. Two blades were launched into the dish and the tension was in the air. The two blades fought against each other for several seconds before only one bitbeast was launched. Forrest was quite surprised that a blade without a bitbeast has made so far in the tryouts but she noticed that the guy did have excellent strategy.

"No beast? That's just a shame," a guy scowled. His opponent glared at him and fumed. A bear appeared and began to charge towards the other boy.

"Dodge it." It did.

By then, the bear was angry and it charged with a mighty roar towards the blade. The beastless blade merely dodged and ended up with a long but shallow scratch on the surface.

"Strike back!"

But it was too late, the bear knocked its fat body into the beastless blade and it shattered into several pieces. The tiny pieces flew like dust and some reflected the sunlight. Everything became silent.

The boy slowly stepped to the center of the dish and picked up the pieces of his blade, disbelieving what just happened. He was trembling. His lips were quivering badly.

"You'll pay," he threatened as he walked away.

That's what I hate about these moronic tryouts, Kai thought. Adversaries… some people are just too foolish.

Without being called, Forrest strolled to the center of the room to meet her second-to-last opponent. It was another guy. She had to admit that he was handsome, his hair was spiked a little bit and the color was a dark and rich brown, like dark chocolate. His eyes were like a pair of sparkling amethyst.

"Hey, pretty boy," she called, showing a fake-smile. "Let's boogie." And with that she launched her blade. The brown-haired boy caught up soon and launched his own blade. As soon as it reached the dish, its bitbeast was summoned. It was a hare. Forrest almost snorted. "A bunny rabbit?"

The amethyst-eyed boy frowned and laughed. "Just because you sleep with the captain doesn't mean that you can earn a place in the team and less beat me. It's a hare, a wild rabbit and it has fangs," he paused. "It likes blood." His pupils became cat-like and he chuckled to himself.

Forrest frowned. "I don't sleep with anyone, you son of a bitch!" With that, she snarled: "Earthquake!" As soon as the word came out, the ground shook and a crack appeared in the dish.

"Manners, my lady," Forrest's opponent spat.

"Of course, my lord."

From the audience's point of view, the match seemed rather amusing, or at least, Kai thought so. She has a temper that one, she sure does, he rolled his eyes.

"Thunder rage!"

"Deadly fang!"

The beyblades clashed into each other in midair and both flew back out of the dish. Forrest caught hers and bit her bottom lip. It was the first draw. She stepped away of the dish.

"It's time for pep talk!" Max exclaimed.

"Cut the crap out," Kai spat. "We have no time for this."

"Fine, a short pep talk. Alright, folks, all of you guys have came this far and you were all great. By now, there are only four people left and we have to eliminate two of you because we cannot keep that many people on a team. But I assure you, your skills are all very decent so don't be disappointed if you don't make into the finals," Max said with a happy voice.

Forrest nodded to herself and sighed. She felt a long scratch on her arm because of that bunny rabbit.

"Now, the two finalists are…" Tyson paused for a dramatic effect.

"2 and 25!" Kenny piped in.

Forrest's heart almost jumped with joy but she told herself that there was one more round left. She felt her heart pounding against her chest as she once again stepped to the almost cracked-dish.

"Let it rip!" the boy with the bear bitbeast yelled as he launched his blade. Forrest followed him.

The two blades clashed in midair and landed on opposite sides. Forrest stared into her opponent's eyes and smirked.

High attack, medium endurance and low defense, she thought. As long as I can attack from far.

"Frozen tornado!" A dolphin appeared.

Kai was already familiar with that attack; she had used it against him for several times.

"That is not possible! Your bitbeast is a lion… or a horse!" the guy yelled in confusion.

"It is neither, it's a star," Forrest said, shrugging. She was left off guard for a second and during that time the bear struck the dolphin. The sea creature shrieked in pain and so did Forrest. She had another long scratch on her leg. "Frozen tornado!"

The same attack was used and the other blade was thrown against the dish but it did not get damaged.

"Slash it apart!"

Forrest clenched her fists together and told Starlet to dodge but it was hard, the bear was so angered that he grew in size and Starlet was like a mouse compared to it. She watched desperately as the bear charged with its fat body towards Starlet, she gritted her teeth. Then Forrest felt something come in contact with her shoulder. It wasn't painful at first but then she felt it slash across her upper body. She shrieked in pain and collapsed on the ground, she was on her knees but not yet ready to give up. Starlet was wobbling. And Forrest's shirt was torn in several pieces, revealing white bra straps. Blood dripped down her arms. She felt hopeless for the first time in her life.

"So you're physically connected to your blade?" the guy asked rhetorically. "Slash—"

"That's enough!" came a roar. Both of them turned their attention to the speaker in surprise.

"Kai…" Forrest mumbled between gasps. Her lips were bleeding too. She looked miserable. As she felt her own blood gliding down her arms to her hands, she quivered; she was frightened by the sight of blood.

"You're disqualified," Kai shot at the guy.

"Why?"

"You're a heartless bastard and we don't need one on the team," the Russian spat.

"She's your girlfriend, isn't she? Is that why? And you know what? You're a heartless bastard too!" the guy spat back.

"I know…," Kai said, and then he smirked slightly. "That's why we don't need another 'heartless bastard', do we?"

Forrest wanted to giggle at the comment but she couldn't. Pain shot through her body and it was almost unbearable. She gripped her shirt tightly.

"But if she decides to quit team, we'll call you," Kenny said, trying to sooth the tension between the two guys.

"I don't want to be on this team anyway. I'm starting my own and I'll beat you! All of you!"

With that, the boy with the bear bitbeast walked away without another word. After he disappeared from sight, the team ran to Forrest.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "Just ask James to take me home." She stood up shakily. "And tell Tala Valkov that… I'm skipping my shift today."

Kai gave a wave which meant that he was going to take care of it. His teammates all nodded and decided to go home themselves.

With Kai's help, Forrest stumbled out of the gym and into the black car that James drove. Luckily for them, school wasn't far away from the Hiwatari place.

"Am I in?" Forrest asked timidly as she let him help her get into the car.

"Hn," he replied.

"Thanks, Kai," she mumbled as she winced in pain.

"But you'll have to quit swimming."

Forrest bit her lip, tasting some dried up blood on it. She knew that it would happen because she could not manage to do so many things at once but it was hard to choose. She tried to relax at the moment but it grew impossible. The soft leather interior of the car and the scent of a strong air freshener filled the car. She felt awfully lightheaded.

"Alright," she said. "Only after I lead my team to victory in the relay race."

"When?"

"Next week."

The two-toned haired boy nodded silently.

The club was crowded like usual but the VIP room was rather empty. Tala Valkov took a seat in the front row and he leaned against the chair. He watched his cousin end her dance performance. It was already quite late so he was sure that requests had ended long ago. There was only about half a dozen people in the quiet room.

Then, a girl with long jet black hair stepped on the stage, under the spotlight. She wore a tight marine blue dress with diamonds studded on it that accented her curves well.She gleamed under the light. Tala had seen her around so many times, that jet-blacked haired girl hung out with Forrest outside and in school. He sat beside her during many occasions; they even shared two kisses, one under a mistletoe and another one because of a dare. But they rarely spoke at all. He knew that she was pretty but also out of his limits. And he also knew for sure that she loved music, like he did. After all, that's why he opened a club. He loved music underneath his love for beyblading and his cold heart.

He heard the song start. It wasn't played by the band or by a pianist, it was a recording.

"You know everything that I'm afraid of," she started. To him, her voice sounded angelic, as soft as rose petals and melodious. Her eyes were closed to give her a dreamy expression. He watched her in silence, in awe. He never had the time to watch his performers because he met with important people who came at his club or he was busy running it. But he wished that he had come more often. It wasn't him who auditioned the girl either; it was his assistant, Chris.

You do everything I wish I did
Everybody wants you, everybody loves you

Ooh, I got a crush on you
I hope you feel the way that I do
I get a rush
When I'm with you
Ooh, I've got a crush on you
A crush on you

She opened her eyes and somehow, he felt that she was looking at him. For a moment, he felt like they were the only ones alive in their miserable world.

You know, I'm the one that you can talk to
And sometimes you tell me thing that I don't want to know
I just want to hold you

She grabbed the microphone and her voice grew a little bit louder.

You say everything that no one says
But I feel everything that you're afraid to feel
I will always want you, I will always love you
I've got a crush on you

Her angelic voice faded away and her eyes were opened. She felt herself blush when she found the owner of the TV staring straight into her eyes. She stepped off the stage with a sigh of relief. A techno song started playing for the dancers.

What's wrong with me? she asked herself as she put her hand to her forehead. She entered her dressing room and sat on her chair in front of the mirror. She looked at herself, her jet-black hair hanging down her shoulders, her ocean blue eyes full of questions. She put her headphones on and closed her eyes.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she groaned. She opened her eyes and saw red hair in the mirror. She turned her head around. "Tala Valkov? I mean… boss."

"Call me Tala. That was a nice performance," he muttered.

She felt sparks flying as she saw his aqua marine eyes bore into hers and his hand reached for hers, just like a prefect gentleman. She grinned and took his hand willingly.

"Do you want to have a drink or two?" he asked casually.

"Sure," she accepted grinning from one ear to another.

Author's Notes: Another short chapter, mhmmm. Well, that song is Crush by Mandy Moore. Quite appropriate, nay? Anyway, Shayna Tanaka is elementBLUE's OC. There's another OC coming ahead in later chapters. Mkayy, review!