Chapter 3

One month passed faster than they expected and soon the Bladebreakers found themselves at the airport waiting to board their plane. That's... if Tyson ever gets there in time.

As usual he was late. The rest of the team was there minus their new member. They had not spoken to her since the competition and at school, they only caught glimpse of her in between school hours. The only person who came closest to her was Kai because he was in most of the same classes as she. Even then, they pretty much ignored each other. Except...on several occasions where Kai found himself distracted by her. Those were the times he couldn't seem to ignore her presence even if she did.

There was once in gym class outdoors where the boys were playing basketball and the girls were taking turns leaping over a horse bar. Personally Kai thought the whole thing ridiculous but when it came to Jade's turn, his attention wandered, watching her curiously as she took her position several meters from the bar. It was then he realized the intensity he felt from her wasn't just in her eyes but in her movements too. She moved as though she was ready for a fight. He watched as the teacher blew the whistle, giving her the cue to start. Jade ran forward, her legs taking long graceful strides. Her hands came forward to grasp the metal bars and she lifted herself over the bulk, bringing up her legs on both sides and came front again, letting momentum take hold. At the last moment, she flipped over her hands and landed gracefully catlike on the mats.

I never seen anyone move that...graceful..., Kai found himself thinking again at the airport.

Of course, then it was the clapping of the other students that had broken his thoughts and he had glanced away, somehow aware that moment Jade had looked in his direction.

He could still remember her piecing gaze on him. Tiredly, Kai let out a soft sigh. What's it about her that...draws me?

"If we miss the plane, I'm gonna kill him!" Kenny cried out in frustration.

"You're not alone on this one." Ray muttered.

"Calm down, guys." Max said. "He'll be here."

The plane was scheduled to leave in ten minutes and if Tyson doesn't get there in time, they would have to catch the next flight to Bangkok for first part of the tournament.

"Hey, guys!" they heard a voice then, hollering across the airport. "Wait up!"

"Finally." Kai muttered opening his eyes.

"Am I late?" Tyson asked as he came running up to them in a panting state. "I guess I over-slept."

"You guess?" Dizzi said.

"Hey, no one woke me up!" Tyson protested.

Ray sighed. "Actually, we tried."

"But you were like a bear in hibernation." Max added.

"And you let that psycho grandfather of mine wake me up?" Tyson stared at them in disbelief. He still remembered what the old guy had done. A steaming hot shower from a kettle in the morning wasn't fun. His skin was still red from the heat.

"We didn't have choice." Kenny said.

"As if." Tyson murmured. Then he realized something else. "Hey, where's Jade?"

"She's coming with Mr. Dickenson." Kenny answered. "Which you would know if you had been there when he called."

"I said I'm sorry!" Tyson groaned.

"Ah, I see someone finally woke up." Mr. Dickenson said approaching them from behind.

"Morning, Mr. Dickenson." the four of them said.

Behind the chairman, Jade rolled her eyes. They sound like kindergarten kids. "Can we go yet?" she demanded restlessly.

All attention turned to her.

"Hey, Jade." Ray was the first to speak. "Haven't seen you around."

She forced a tight smile on to her face, not wanting another lecture on being friendlier to her new teammates from Mr. Dickenson. "Well, now you have." she said unnatural sweetly

Mr. Dickenson coughed. "Maybe we should get onto the plane."

Everyone agreed. Then Tyson declared. "I'm taking the window seat!"

"Max! I called for it first!" Tyson yelled as he pulled Max's arm trying to get the blonde kid out of the seat he wanted.

"First come, first serve!" Max laughed.

"Maxie!" Tyson wailed.

"Will you two please put a sock in it?" Kenny snapped from the seat in front of them. His laptop was opened on his lap and one can guessed he was trying to get some work done. Which was impossible unless those two at the back would keep quiet.

Ray noticed Jade rolling her eyes at Tyson and Max and smiled. "You'll get used to it."

Uncertainly she nodded. "I hope so."

Hey, a 'none-insulting' reply from her, Ray thought in relief. That's an improvement...

"Although..."she added. "I seriously doubt I will."

Ray sighed. Then again...maybe not...But I suppose it takes time...

Jade took the seat behind Ray, deciding to ignore Tyson and Max. She took out her Discman from her bag pack, placed the headphones over her ears and blasted the music to its loudest.

One of these days, this is gonna make me deaf but not before those two in front drive me insane...

She sat back in her seat, closing her eyes as Evanesence's My Immortal played in her ears. She sensed someone taking the seat across hers and guessed it was Kai. She was very well aware of him now. How could she not be? One whole month in the same school in the same class as the two-toned-blue-haired boy wasn't exactly comforting. She had tried to ignored him but somehow she couldn't.

She remembered a few weeks ago in gym class after she had performed a flip-over a horse bar, she had felt his gaze on her, watching her. She looked at him but he had already returned to the basketball game with the other boys. She was intrigued to watch then. She stood behind a group of girls drooling over Kai from the field benches.

Air-headed bimbos..., she had thought rolling her eyes in annoyance. She watched the game intensely wondering how good he was.

It had turned out he was the best. Single-handedly Kai had broken past the other team's defenses and scored a goal. She studied his movements. They had been swift and well-planned, having being thought up in those few seconds. Despite herself, she couldn't help but be amazed and impressed.

He hasn't changed much...in some ways...

In other ways...he has changed...a lot...

By the time the plane took off, she was already asleep. As she dozed off, she felt someone throw a blanket over her but she was too tired to open her eyes. She just slept. No one noticed the soft glow of her Beyblade in her hand or when she moaned softly in her sleep as memories of her past came to life in her dreams.

She was walking along a street hand in hand with her mother. Her mother was the most beautiful, wonderful person in her world. She was sweet, cheerful and kind to just about anyone. It seemed impossible that anyone would want to hurt her yet it was possible.

That fateful day on her fifth birthday, her mother had given her a special gift. A heirloom passed down from generations to generations in her mother's family.

"This, Jade, is a treasure." her mother had said to her. "It's yours now. Protect it and it'll protect you, my daughter."

Wide-eyed filled with innocence, she had replied. "What's it, mama?"

"It's Bit chip with great power." her mother answered.

"What's it called?" she asked.

"It's called Draizer."

Draizer...

Soon afterwards, her mother had promised her a Beyblade and they had gone to the store. Then it happened, on that street in broad daylight. It happened so fast. There was a flash of steel as a knife plunged into her mother's chest, a man running, screaming and shouting then...there was a lot of blood...

She could hear herself crying out for her mother. "No! Mama! Get up! Open your eyes please!"

Police sirens in the background could be heard and there was just so much blood...

She then saw her younger self being handed over to a woman at an orphanage by the police, listening as the policeman explained what had happened.

"Her mother was killed in a brutal stabbing recently. Her father is missing or dead. She has no one to take her in."

I...have no one...

The scene faded and now she watched herself two months later sitting in a dark corner, staring at the Beyblade in her hand. The door opened and the caretaker lady came in and behind her a man with purple hair followed.

"Come now, Jade." the woman said gently. "It's time to leave."

Her younger innocent eyes had widened in confusion. "Leave? Where are we going?"

The purple haired man had answered. "I'm taking you home."

She didn't want to go. She preferred the orphanage. Even though it wasn't exactly home at least it was familiar. No one bothered about her. Until now.

Moments later she was in a limousine, sitting next to the purple haired man, staring soulfully back at the orphanage. Somehow she knew her childhood was over and hell was too come.

Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked. A dream, she thought. It's just a dream....

"Jade."

She looked up. "Yeah?"

"We're here." Ray told her as he collected his luggage and hers from the compartments above. She nodded and started to get up when she noticed the blanket covering her. She looked at Ray for an answer. "Who...?"

He merely tilted his head at the now empty seat across hers.

Kai?

The bus sent to pick them up took them through the roads of Bangkok. Tyson couldn't keep still in his seat. He was excited to sample the different types of exotic food Thailand had to offer. He and Max were psyched.

"Bangkok, watch out cause the Bladebreakers are here!"