This is a slow moving chapter, I'll admit. The plot will really start to come about at the end of this chapter, but for the most part, this is the chapter that provides background info. Prease enjoy. x3

Thanks, yet again, Sara. xxx


Since Rei was a child, he'd always wondered what it would be like to be held. Of course, he'd had Mao's arms wrapped around his neck hundreds of times, or Rai's arm slung across his shoulders, or Gao throwing trunk-like arms around him and crushing him in an affectionate bear hug.

That wasn't what he meant. No, what Rei had always wanted to experience was to be enfolded in a secure embrace and held close. Feeling for that moment like he was the most precious person in the world.

Most people had had that feeling; A mother squishing her fidgeting child close, a brother holding his little sister tightly while she cries, a grandmother enveloping a small child with adoration. Yes, most people had experienced something similar to this, and yet, Rei could honestly say that he had not until he was seventeen years old. How very sad.

He sighed, shifting his head from where it was resting upon Takao's shoulder. The younger smiled and tightened his grip around his prize.

At that moment, they were simply sitting, watching television. Rei was lying across the settee, leaning into Takao's side, wrapped in a loose embrace. It was something he could get used to, this feeling of being cherished. It was something he had longed for, and yet…

"Oh! Sorry guys." Max's voice interrupted the scene.

Rei sat up, stretching and offering Max a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Max. What's up?"

Max looked hesitant for a second. "Ummm… my program's on in a minute. Do you mind if I switch over?"

"Of course not, Max." Rei assured.

The younger looked unsure for a moment, before he smiled slightly and sat down in front of the settee and took the remote Takao offered.

Rei pondered the way Max was acting quietly to himself.

Six days ago, Takao Kinomiya had declared his love for him, Rei Kon. Until that day, Rei had never had anyone tell him that they loved him in his life and it had thrown him into confusion. He was so used to taking care of everyone and working himself into exhaustion just to prove himself, that the thought of someone actually caring for him was foreign. It had, within the safe confines of his mind, been a fantasy of his. For someone to love him and want him near; someone who would wrap their arms around him without hesitation… someone to make him feel special. Appreciated. Worth something.

Five days ago, Rei had given Takao his answer. To begin with Takao had looked surprised, as if he hadn't believed that Rei could possibly say yes. Rei's heart had leapt when he had seen the delighted grin break out on the younger blader's face. Rei loved making others happy, and the fact that it was he that made Takao happy, made it all the sweeter. The following hug had made his heart thud in his chest, being seized up and held tight. Rei had almost been overwhelmed. It had felt so… so… amazing. No one had ever held him like that before and it made him feel so safe and secure. Rei had been so used to looking after himself that the feeling of being cared for made him relax when he had never even known he was stressed.

It was like a breath of fresh, sweet air. However, there was… something. Something that was—

The sound of the door being shoved open jolted Rei from his thoughts. Kai strode in, pausing to glance around the room. His eyes settled upon the couple of the sofa, narrowing into a sharp glare. Rei felt taken aback by its intensity, but Kai ignored the look and turned away from them.

"Don't bother with doing dinner for me, I'm going out for a bit." He said without the slightest bit of enthusiasm, and turned back around to march out of the door.

Rei frowned and stood up, suddenly intent on following the elder blader.

"Rei?' He paused and looked back to Takao. "I really wouldn't."

"Yeah, Rei. He's been in a really bad mood for weeks now. I'd leave him alone."

Rei's frown deepened. "I'm just going to ask him if he wants me to put some in the fridge for him later."

"It's your funeral." Max muttered, before getting a thwap on the head from Takao.

Rei rolled his eyes and moved out into the hallway, finding that Kai was standing by the front door and shrugging on his coat.

"Kai," Rei began softly.

"What?" Kai interrupted, not even sparing him a backward glance.

Rei's eyes widened at the dismissive way Kai was treating him. "I was only going to say that I'd put some dinner in the fridge for you to eat later, Kai." He said patiently.

Kai shrugged. "I said don't bother."

Rei almost winced at Kai's snappiness and tried again. "Well, you never know. What time will you be back?"

"'Dunno." Kai said simply, opening the door.

"Well, will you at least tell me where you're going to go?" Rei demanded, getting extremely frustrated.

"Out." Kai bit out, marching out through the open door and slamming it behind him, leaving Rei standing there, bewildered.

He stood in silence, hand unconsciously cupped against his chest, simply watching the door. Then the hurt set in. An ache setting within his heart, mind reeling.

Slowly, dejectedly, Rei moved off into the kitchen, deciding to start dinner since it was his turn. He remained quiet, even when Hiromi arrived. Though she didn't bother him, he knew that she was aware that something was wrong. However, as he went to call the others in for dinner, she caught him by the elbow.

"Rei, they're not stupid. I don't know what's wrong, but you either tell them, or you act like nothing's wrong, all right?"

Rei's eyes widened at her sudden seriousness. " Hiromi?"

"Look, Rei. Takao's head over heels at the moment so… either be honest with him about what's the matter, or try not to let him see how down you are." She suggested.

Rei was taken aback by the amount of care she showed for that moment, used to as he was, to her bossy yells, or delighted laughter. He sighed and forced a smile. "You're right. Thanks."

The dinner had gone by as usual, though nobody mentioned Kai's empty space. Rei managed to keep his smile in place and despite Takao's kind offer to clean up for him, he set about wiping the table over and washing the plates with forced light- heartedness.

Once he was done and the kitchen empty, his smile dropped and his eyes grew worried. He stood, indecisive for a moment, before he spun around and grabbed a dishcloth. He turned the hot tap on and waited for a moment for steam to begin rising from the streaming water. Deeming it hot enough he folded the dishcloth and soaked it in the scalding water. Then he took a deep breath and pressed it to his forehead, wincing and fighting back a gasp.

Satisfied, he stepped back from the sink, turning off the tap as he did so, and dropping the dishcloth onto the sideboard. He made his way to the living room and stood by the open door.

He cleared his throat. "Guys? I think I'm going to head to bed." He announced.

Takao's eyes darted to Rei, before flickering to the wall clock and then back to Rei. "Rei, it's only seven-ish and… hey!" He stood up suddenly, eyes flashing with worry as he neared the elder youth. "Are you all right? Your face is all flushed!"

Rei raised a hand to his forehead. "Yeah, I've just got a headache."

Takao reached out to cup Rei's cheeks in his hands, causing Rei to blush. "Hmm, your face is really over-heated." He stated, before he stepped back a little and nodded. "Get some sleep then, Rei. I hope you feel better in the morning." He quickly leaned in and pressed a small kiss to Rei's red left cheek.

Rei's blush grew hotter and he nodded in return, stepping out of Takao's grip. "Thanks. Good night, Max!" He smiled at the younger boy before him, resisting the urge to fidget when he saw the expectant look in Takao's eyes. He swallowed and took another step back. " 'Night, Taka." He smiled, turning away before he had a chance to see Takao's disappointment.

It didn't take him long to brush his teeth, and change into his night clothes, though taking his hair out of it's customary bind and brushing it took a good few minutes. Once he was satisfied and his hair tied back into a secure, low ponytail, he settled down in bed and lay once again on his back, staring at the ceiling.

In truth, he did have a headache. This morning, life had by no means been perfect, but it had at least been good. He had a sweet boyfriend and good friends, and then it had all been ruined. To say that he wasn't hurt by Kai's behaviour would be a lie.

The truth was, Kai's dismissals cut him to the core. It may be hard to believe to the outsider, but at one time, Kai and Rei had been close. Very close. Best friends close. Though it had taken time, Kai had told Rei about his life, his hopes, his thoughts and his feelings. Rei had returned the favour, for example Kai was the only one who knew that he had never known his parents, and Kai was the only one who knew the silly things like how much Rei loved to idly sketch and that Rei loved springtime. They had spent nearly all of their time together, laughing (something Kai was more than capable of it seemed) and training and simply relaxing with one another. Kai had always offered him comfort, and Rei had realised, quite late that he was really, very attracted to the other. By that point, he knew Kai well enough that if he made the wrong gesture, his friendship with Kai would be over. So instead, he settled for his dreams, which ranged from intense, to romantic to downright weird at times. Even after the team had split up and they had beybattled alone for a tournament, Rei was still Kai's best friend, and, despite Rai, Kai had been Rei's.

It had all changed about two months back. Where Kai had been openly friendly with Rei, and often requested that they train together, Kai was suddenly distant. He seemed unwilling to talk to him unless absolutely necessary, avoided all forms of contact and looked upon him with what seemed to be hate.

What hurt the most was that the transition had been sudden. They hadn't argued, Rei hadn't done anything to risk their friendship, and no one had come between them. It had just… deteriorated. Rei would be lying to say that he didn't badly miss it.

Kai had been interesting, and contrary to popular belief, funny and caring. Rei had used to enjoy their time spent together, as Kai was the friend that Rai, and the rest of the Bai Fu Zu couldn't be. Even though they hadn't been overt in their close friendship, it had still very much been there. In a sense, Rei felt robbed and he found himself almost pining after their old friendship that he had believed to be so strong.

It had been after the degeneration of their relationship that had driven Rei to have ever more frequent dreams. Dreams in which, as he had all ready acknowledged were often sexual in nature, where Kai acted as a lover rather than a friend. Perhaps it was a secret desire for a lover that had finally settled Rei's final answer to accept Takao's request of a relationship.

Takao…

It would be a lie to say that Rei didn't love him. I just wasn't the right kind. When Rei looked at the other boy he felt no passion, or devotion, or desire. There was, instead, a kind of protective need to look after him, more akin to the feelings associated with a little brother, or cousin. Perhaps the need to protect Takao's heart influenced his decision to become his boyfriend. It could have been, instead, purely in the hope that his love would develop into the kind of love required. Perhaps it was all of those reasons and more.

Rei didn't know if he regretted it or not. He really didn't know how he felt. He revelled in the way that Takao put his arms around him, and the way he was treated with so much affection and appreciation. And yet, at the same time he was plagued with the nagging feeling that though it was all so wonderful, it wasn't quite… right. That confused him and it made him hesitant, no less because, just two days ago, Takao had made it rather apparent that he wanted to kiss Rei.

Ironically enough, that scared Rei more than his battle with Boris and Dunga combined. Because, though it had never bothered Rei before… Rei was seventeen. And had never been kissed.

The thought made him blush… badly.

He had, of course, imagined it, based upon movies and television he had seen, and his dreams had led him to passionate, breath- taking kisses. But they were nothing more than fantasy and fantasy didn't tend to be like the real thing. For one, it was bad enough that Rei had never even thought about kissing Takao before, let alone he couldn't now even when he tried, but Takao was expecting it and Rei had no idea what to do. Being older, Takao might be waiting for Rei to initiate, which again came back to the inexperienced issue. What a fantastic way to embarrass himself- to finally find the nerve to just do it only to end up being sloppy and awkward. On top of that, what if Takao got tired of waiting and just kissed him? Not knowing what he was supposed to do, he would probably just freeze like some kind of moron or fail abysmally at copying motion, either way it would be painfully obvious he didn't have a clue. Not that Rei was either full of himself or felt the need to be perfect, but his ego was fragile enough as it was, so there was only so much humiliation he could take.

He sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time since this whole drama had begun and asked the question that usually followed: What was he going to do?

It was some time later, when the door to his room clicked open and the rustling sounds of someone getting undressed and sliding into bed reached his ears. Only when the sound of soft, deep breathing washed over him, did he finally drop off to sleep.


As usual, the sound of running water roused him from the depths of sleep. Dark, delicate lashes fluttering, as citrine coloured eyes opened to the world. Rei lay still for a moment, waking up, before a shuddering yawn pulled itself from him. Scrunching his eyes shut, he arched his back stretching sleepy muscles languidly. With a contented sigh, he flopped back down, before gathering his will and sliding out of bed. He reached over to his bedside table and picked up his brush. By the time Kai stepped out of the en suite, towelling his hair dry, Rei had rid his hair of tangles and knots.

Kai took one look at the raven shawl, before muttering; "Hair day?"

It had been a tradition among them… one of the few that still existed. If Rei had his hair out in the morning by the time Kai was out of the shower, Kai would announce that it was 'hair day'- a day upon which Rei had decided to partake in the labourous task of cleaning his tresses. Though times had changed and Kai no longer smirked or chuckled at the younger when he used to poke his tongue out at the response, he still, out of habit uttered those words.

In stead, he said after he had walked back into the bathroom to toss the towel back onto the hook: "Practice starts in an hour. Don't be late." And with a curt nod, he turned and left the room.

Rei huffed and made his way towards the bathroom, beginning the ritual so fondly referred to as 'hair day'. Rushing through it, due to the tight schedule, Rei managed to get himself ready in fifty minutes, though his hair was a mess as a result. Cursing to himself, he looked scornfully at the mirror one last time, before he reached out to grab and pocket his beyblade. He hurried down the stairs and made his way out into the dojo's courtyard.

There he found that Kai, Takao, and Hiromi were all ready assembled. At the sight of Rei, Takao pulled away from whatever he was glaring at Kai for and offered Rei a beaming smile.

"Morning, gorgeous." He announced with a grin.

Rei blushed, but couldn't help but smile. "Sorry to disappoint, Taka but I don't think this person of yours showed up. Morning, everyone."

"Morning, Rei." Hiromi smiled, though she seemed to study him briefly as she did so.

Max and Kyoujyu came bustling into the courtyard.

"Morning, guys! Not late are we?" Max greeted.

"I was just showing Max this idea I'd had." Kyoujyu added.

Kai shook his head to indicate the negative. "Well, if we're all here, we might as well get started. Max, I trust Kyoujyu showed you the plans for a new style of launch to enhance attack, so I want you to train with Takao to see just how effective it is. Rei, you're with me. We're concentrating on your speed, so we'll be training on the sand."

Rei's heart dropped. Training off on his own with Kai only made it all the more apparent to him just how much they had grown apart. Regardless of his feelings on the matter though, he nodded. "Sure, that's fine by me."

"Kyoujyu, Hiromi… go with Max and Takao." Kai continued. "Kyoujyu you'll be analysing the effectiveness of Max's new launch. Hiromi, you can add your input where you see fit. Is everyone clear?" Everyone nodded. "Right then, we'll see each other later. Rei, come on."

"See you, Rei." Takao smiled sweetly, before heading off towards the beydish in his garden. Rei waved once, and then turned around and followed Kai.

They walked along the sun-dappled path and down the stone stairs leading towards the sand in the silence shared between two people that had nothing to say to one another. Kai eventually spoke once they reached the beach, telling Rei what to do briefly before pulling out his own beyblade and setting it in his launcher.

And then they trained. Seconds became minutes, which bled into hours. They worked until sweat beaded across their brows and small headaches warned them of the risks of prolonged concentration. The sun passed its zenith and began its slow descent, though it remained warm and they continued practicing, Kai urging Rei to try and stay as evasive as possible on the soft sand. Eventually, however, Kai called a halt to the training.

"What time is it?" Rei huffed, slightly tired out.

Kai took his watch from his pocket. "Half one." He said simply.

When nothing else seemed to be coming from the other, Rei took a deep breath. "So… are we done here? Because I think I've done as much as I can and if we go on for too long, I'm going to end up jamming the spin gear system with sand and I'll have Kyoujyu on my case." Kai merely nodded at that, and Rei couldn't help but feel compelled to continue, not wishing to sound ungrateful. "But I do see why we did this, Kai. It was a really good idea. Getting used to moving on sand should get Driger moving much faster on a solid surface, so thank you."

Kai turned around, facing away from the younger blader as he began to study Dranzer in the sparkling daylight. "You don't need to thank me, Rei. It's my job to make you a better blader."

"Yeah, but… there's nothing wrong with letting you know I appreciate it." Kai didn't respond, which made Rei grow a little more fidgety. "Umm… well if we're done here, I'll go and see how the others are doing-"

"We're not done." Kai cut in.

Rei blinked. "You still want to train?"

"No, we're done training." Kai pocketed his blade once again and turned to face Rei. "I need to talk to you."

'Sounds ominous' Rei thought, not failing to miss the grave expression upon Kai's features. "Okay?" He replied levelly.

Kai stepped towards him, making his way closer until he was a metre away from his team-mate. "Rei. As captain it is my job to ensure that the team works at its optimum performance. Correct?"

"…Right?" Rei responded.

"I've given it thought and I have decided that no matter how hard I try to ignore it, a recent development has arisen that I simply cannot allow." He continued.

"Development… Kai, what are you talking about?" Rei asked, utterly lost.

Kai's eyes narrowed. "This so called relationship you have with Kinomiya. You will end it."

"What?" Rei gasped. "Kai, you can't be serious?" He spluttered.

Kai's glare turned almost vicious. "Unlike this farce of a relationship, I'm serious. I've got no time for make- believe on my team. End this ridiculous debacle now, before it inevitably goes wrong and ruins all that we've worked for."

Yellow eyes slit in fury. "So that's it? That's what we've come to? God, Kai! I don't know what the fuck I did to make you hate me so much, but to accuse what Takao and I share as a basis for the team falling apart is lower than I thought you were capable of." He hissed, furious at Kai's thoughtless words. "Team, team, team! It's all about the team for you isn't it? It's never been about us, just the damned unit. Well, Kai. Some of us have our own lives, so don't you try to take mine away from me!" Rei spat out, and moved, making to storm past Kai.

He didn't get very far. "You will listen to me, Rei." Kai stated, barely suppressed fury of his own thick in his voice as he caught Rei's wrist in an iron- like grasp. "End it."

Rei could detect the warning in that message, but his own anger drove him onwards. "You won't bully me, Kai. I'm not ending anything and that's that."

Kai growled, his grip tightening which made Rei almost wince. "I'm warning you, Rei. Dump Kinomiya before you both get hurt."

"Is that a threat, Hiwatari?" Rei growled out.

Kai's eyes narrowed further still, into furious slits of burning red. "It's a promise, Rei."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Rei's voice was nothing more than a hiss, trembling with rage.

"I'm your captain." Kai responded in a similar fashion, pulling Rei closer in an attempt to intimidate him with his vicious glare and his larger frame.

Rei, however, was not impressed. "And you know what? I used to respect you for that, Kai, but now, I just don't fucking care."

Kai's voice dropped to a whisper. "You should do."

Yellow eyes glittered, narrowing in anger. Rei's retort, however, never left the tip of his tongue, because at the precise moment he made to open his mouth—

Kai was kissing him.


So blatantly coming, but Rei didn't see it coming. xD