Sooooooooo sorry for not updating earlier. I had piano lessons so I couldn't finish typing! From now on I swear:
I WILL UPDATE AT LEAST EVERY OTHER DAY, UNLESS I AM ON A TRIP WITH NO INTERNET OR UNLESS MY COMPUTER CRASHED OR I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK!
Okay?
Anyway, thanks again to my reviewers! I'm really glad that you reviewed a second time, Hippochick. It's always nice to know someone really likes your work. You're the best!
Wow! Ariotlatio! You too? Another faithful reviewer! Aww, thanks! I'm so touched. : )
Thanks to a new reviewer, Torri-Chiobie. I agree, Tala totally rocks.
Anyway, I don't own Beyblade. Enjoy!
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" Daddy?" The little boy called as he wandered down the long, dim hallway.
" Daddy?" He peeked into one of the many rooms that lined the walls, each sealed with a forbidding door. He saw many computers and white-robed scientists, but his Daddy wasn't there. " Daddy?" The boy whimpered, curling into himself.
Suddenly, the child heard a familiar voice down the hall. " Daddy!" He squealed, toddling off toward the sound.
An abnormally tall man (at least from the child's point of view) came into sight.
" Daddy!" He hugged the man's leg, looking up adoringly.
" Yes…come to daddy." The tall man's voice came from very high up, and echoed around the vast, empty hall. The child felt himself being raised up and giggled in delight. The man attached a probe to the child and vanished, leaving the boy alone.
" Daddy?" The boy's voice was panicked as he watched glowing lines spread out from the probe, all across his arm. Plates of computer chip metal formed in between the lines. " Stop! Get it off! Daddy!" The child sobbed, running further into the hall. He screamed as he caught sight of a hideous monster with metallic flesh and bugging, human eyeballs.
" No!" The little toddler gasped in horror as he realized the monster was actually himself, reflected in a dark mirror. The probe had come alive and was burrowing deep into what was once his skin. " AAAHHHHHHHHH-"
"-AHHHHHHHHH!" The redheaded teen jolted up out of bed, screaming. " Oh, god." He put one hand up to his forehead as he took in vaguely familiar surroundings. He was still extremely tense from the nightmare and was covered with sweat. In his only half-awake, half-sane mind, he needed human comfort. The teen lurched out of bed, pulling on a robe. He stumbled down the grand marble staircase, not bothering to turn any lights on. With surprising ease, he flung the heavy front doors open and practically fell out into the stormy night. The harsh rain splattered all over him, soaking his clothes and plastering his hair to his skull. In that fashion he limped to the street and began his long trek.
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Aya was suddenly awoken by someone furiously pounding on the doorbell.
" Whaa?" She eased slowly out of bed, wondering who could be up at this hour. Aya sleepily slipped on a robe as she stumbled down the stairs. Peering through the frosted glass window on the front door, she couldn't see much but rain and a pale arm pressed against the door. Completely awake now, Aya furrowed her brow and unlocked the door.
" Whoa!" She had to quickly step forward to catch the falling body. " Ta-Yuri?" she gasped, pushing the person's hair out of their face.
" Aya…hi…" He smiled weakly.
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" What are you doing here?" Aya asked as she set a cup of hot chocolate in front of 'Yuri.' She had gotten him inside and had thrown his wet clothes in the washer. He was currently shivering in a bathrobe at her kitchen table.
" I don't know. I was half-asleep…but all I knew was that I had to find human contact and I guess you were the first one that popped up. I think I had a nightmare." Yuri laughed self-consciously. " It was silly, I'm sorry for bothering you." He made as it to leave.
" No, no, it's fine." Aya lightly pushed him back into his seat. " Besides, your clothes aren't done and it's too late to go back to your house. You can stay in the guest room. Tomorrow we have school."
" Guess you're right. School, eh?" Yuri shook his head.
" Don't worry, I'll tell the secretaries about your condition. Everything will be fine!" Aya smiled, patting the redhead on the shoulder.
" Thanks for everything." Yuri sighed, sipping his drink.
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" I. Will. Die. Of. Embarrassment." Yuri groaned, looking at himself in the mirror. He and Aya had returned to his house to get some clothes. All the clothes in his closet had been so…so…leather-y, tight-y, black-y! There he was, wearing a sleeveless ripped shirt with navy pants that had large silver buttons up the sides. The shirt was white; one of the few that were.
Aya was only half-listening to Yuri's moans. She was too intrigued with his room. It was huge! And they were just in the sleeping area of it! There were candles all over the place, even on the wall. The furniture was all ebony wood and the bed had translucent black drapes. A sound system and large television was positioned so it was visible from the bed. The whole room had a bit of a black, orange, navy and white colour scheme. Yuri had also shown her how one light switch turned on the regular lights and the other turned on this program that made the lights change according to the emotions in the room. Aya had no idea how that worked, something about temperature and heart rate? Whatever it was, it was undeniably cool.
" Ooh! Wear this!" Aya gasped, having opened an ebony box with random jewellery inside, in multiple compartments. She held out a silver earring that had three wavy abstract lines dangling from it.
" What? Oh, come on…" Yuri faltered under Aya's pout. " Fine, fine! But I'm taking it off if it gets too weird."
" It won't!" Aya happily handed it to Yuri, who fastened it easily to his left ear.
" Come on, before you find something else for me to wear." Yuri rolled his eyes jokingly, tying a short orange scarf around his neck. Aya just giggled, skipping out of the room before him.
" Wait up! I've got the mode of transportation, remember?" Yuri protested weakly, following the bouncing girl.
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" I don't like this." Yuri whispered nervously, locking the car door and looking at the looming school doors.
" Come on!" Aya found herself saying those words a lot. She shrugged to herself and pulled Yuri's arm along as she walked.
" I can't recognize any of this!" Yuri hissed, looking back and forth, panicking a bit.
" Don't worry! I'm going to walk you through today, to all your classes." Aya walked ahead to the office and in a hushed tone spoke to the secretary. Once in a while the two women would glance over to Yuri. He began to feel uncomfortable. Eventually, Aya was handed a sheet of paper and she walked back to Yuri. " Your first class is-" Aya was interrupted by a burly football player who shoved past her and pounded Yuri on the back.
" Yo! Tal! Where've you been?" The blond roared, laughing.
" Um…yo?" Yuri hoped fervently that this student wasn't his close friend.
" Hahaha! You're such a joker!" The jock shook his head, pounding Yuri's shoulder even harder. Yuri winced as he felt old injuries (that he had just recently discovered) open up.
" Smith!" A harsh voice barked out from behind them.
" What-oh, Kai! Man!" Smith laughed as he turned and caught sight of the boy.
" Going gothic today?"
The aforementioned boy glowered. " Leave us."
" Uh-right. Catch ya later!" Smith walked away with false bravado.
" You okay?" Kai put a hand on Yuri's shoulder.
" Y-yeah. Thanks. My name is Yuri Ivanov. Who are you?" Yuri smiled a bit.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
" Um…hi? Yeah, you're Kai?" Aya ventured. When the slate-haired boy grunted an affirmative she continued. " Do you know…Yuri?"
" I should think so. I've been his best friend for - well, ever since we were born." Kai's eyebrow remained raised.
Aya darted a look at Yuri, who nodded and moved away, busying himself with reading work posted on the wall.
" All right…" Aya took a good look at Kai. He had a black vest on over a dark t-shirt with baggy black pants hung with silver chains. His fingers had rings and his arms bracelets. A studded choker encircled his neck and a silver hoop pierced his left ear. Navy and silver eye shadow heavily weighed down his eyelashes and silver clip-ons studded his ears.
Kai saw her look. " I felt I needed to look intimidating for Tala today. After his mother's phone call."
" She…called?" Aya was still sort of nervous around the sinister-looking boy.
" Yeah. She called and – wait! Who are you anyway? I don't have the habit of telling things to crazy fan girls for have no regard for one's feelings!" Kai narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
" I'm not a fan girl! I moved here a week ago and I just met Tala last Friday!" Aya raised her arms in defence.
" Fine. How did you find Tala and what's wrong with him?" Kai crossed his arms.
" I found him on Saturday, unconscious in a park near my house. I took him to a doctor and he was diagnosed with amnesia. He thinks he's 'Yuri Ivanov'." Aya sighed, shrugging.
" Yuri Ivanov? That's his middle name, Yuri. And Ivanov is his mother's maiden name." Kai frowned, obviously debating with himself whether he should be saying this or not.
" Well, at least he didn't pull the name out of thin air." Aya walked back to where Yuri was.
" So, how'd it go?" Yuri smiled.
" Great! We now know Yuri was your middle name and Ivanov your mother's maiden name." Aya said as Kai joined the two.
" Your mother called me before she left. On Friday night." Kai looked at Yuri.
" R-really? What did she say?" Yuri blushed at his own eagerness.
" She wanted to know if you were with me. I didn't want to worry her so I said yes. She wanted to talk to you but I told her you were asleep. She told me to tell you that she's going back to Russia, to her parents. She wanted you to know that she loves you." Kai looked away nonchalantly.
" Oh." Yuri absorbed this information quietly. " Thank you." He whispered. His mother was half a world away.
" Okay. We'd better go or we'll be late for first period! You have…art! That's lucky. My class has art with yours." Aya chirped, pushing both boys in front of her. " Are you in Yuri's classes?" She asked Kai, momentarily stopping.
" Yeah…" Kai drawled slowly.
" Great!" Aya continued in her 'quest'.
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" You might be wondering why the sophomore and senior classes are mixed for this class." Began the new art teacher, Mr. Namasaki. " We're doing this because we are starting a new curriculum. Also, we want the students to mingle more between grades, to create school unity." The young teacher finished. " By the way, I'm Airashii Namasaki. You may call me Aira." Aira was around his early twenties, fresh out of a very prestigious university. He smiled warmly, leaning casually against his desk. " Are there any questions?"
" Mr. Namasaki? What are we going to be doing this period?" Emily asked, putting her hand up.
" Aira." The teacher corrected, smiling. " And today I want you to do your own thing. Drawing, painting, whatever! I just want to see what you can do."
" But-but…can't you just tell us what to do? I'm…I'm better at working with directions." Emily bit her lip, unsure of how to phrase it so she didn't appear unintelligent.
" No, no! Try to think of your own idea." Aira laughed, tying his long, wavy, pale aqua hair in a loose ponytail.
Emily seemed a bit troubled as she randomly sketched lines on a piece of blank paper. Aya watched her for a bit before turning to her own work. She'd already decided to draw something, but what? She suddenly caught sight of Yuri.
Aya picked up her pencil, an idea forming in her head.
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" This is really nice." Aira raised his eyebrows as he examined Aya's picture.
" Very, very nice." He gave it another glance before putting it down and turning to Emily. " And look at this! You sounded so worried at the beginning, but look at your painting! Gorgeous." He grinned at Emily before turning to another table.
Emily blushed, clutching her work to her chest.
" Can I see, Em?" Mariah reached for the piece of paper. Emily reluctantly gave it up.
" That is really nice! But…" Mariah gasped suddenly, her eyes twinkling with mischief. " You've got a crush!"
Emily's face got even redder as she tried to take the picture back. " No, I don't!"
" Oh yeah? Take a look at this, Aya!" Mariah tossed the painting to the silvery-haired girl.
Aya caught it and looked to see what had made Mariah so excited. The painting was of a cheerful blond boy with his back to the viewer, although his head was turned back, as if he was beckoning you to follow him. " So? I don't get it."
" Look over there." Mariah stopped laughing long enough to point at a nearby table. Aya turned to see the blond from the painting laughing with a navy-haired boy.
" You got a crush! And you tease me about Rei! Ha! Emily and Max! Sitting in a tree." Mariah skilfully dodged all of the orange-haired girl's 'attacks'.
" Calm down girls." Aira chuckled. " Back to work."
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