Chapter 18
By morning the next day, the news of the Bladebreakers's victory was on the front page of every newspaper in the world. There was a fully written interview on Tyson and Max along with a full colored picture of the team right in the middle of it.
"That little brat!" enraged, a hand crushed the newspaper. "I should have realized sooner!"
The computer screen in front of him flickered to life and the face of Voltaire Hiwatari appeared. His face indicated that he too had seen the news. How could one not? It was everywhere.
"I presumed you have heard the news, Boris." Voltaire drawled.
The director of Biovolt's abbey nodded stiffly. "Yes, sir."
"This will throw a wretch in our plans." Voltaire went on.
"Not quite." Boris said calmly, his cunning mind getting over his earlier rage and working to how to use this new knowledge to his advantage. "As a matter a fact, it's playing right in our hands. Two birds with one stone."
"I hope for your sake, Boris that your plans will not fail this time." Voltaire said darkly.
"It'll not, Lord Voltaire. I can assure you that." Boris said.
"I certainly hope so." Voltaire disconnected leaving Boris in the darkness of his chamber with the crumple newspaper still in his hand.
Grinning to himself, Boris tossed it into a wastebasket. "Two birds with one stone, eh? Better yet, a phoenix and...a wolf..."
His body ached all over from the punishment his trainer had inflicted on him for not meeting his expectations He could barely walk, forced to use the wall along the dark hallways for support in order to return to the cell that passes as a room.
He bit his lip, choking back a cry of pain when the back of his knees collapsed and his knees banged against the cold floor painfully. Taking in deep breathes of stale air, he gathered his strength or what's left of it and slowly climbed to his feet. He stumbled forward a few more steps before he went down again. This time he stayed where he was, trying to block out the pain and regain a little of his strength.
Quiet footsteps approached him.
His body tensed up, sending more numbing pain through his weary body when a hand reached down and touched his arm. He flinched expecting it to be painfully but instead it was gentle. Slim gentle fingers examined the cuts on his tender flesh and pulled back. Weakly he lifted his head to look at who was it that's trying to help him. His crimson eyes met gentle green ones. A concern face framed with long strands of raven dark hair that escaped the high ponytail that tied her hair in place followed. He had seen her before. That girl Boris brought in a several days ago. The girl he had seen from his grandfather's office window.
"Keep still." the girl said softly. "This might hurt."
He stared at her suspiciously.
Her green eyes gazed at him. "Trust me."
The sound of tearing cloth echoed down the empty hallway and his eyes looked down as she torn the hem of her skirt. She bit on the cloth and ripped it into two. Then as he watched, she cleaned up his dry blood with one cloth and bandaged the worst of his injuries that was visible to her with the other. She tugged on the knot of the bandage on his arm to secure it. He let out a hiss of pain without meaning to.
Her eyes pained and softened. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, still staring at her as she helped him up carefully until he was able to stand on two feet. His strength returned by the little. She watched him with a tilt of her head and smiled.
He had never seen such a sincere smile before. "Thank you..." he said uncertainly.
She started to turn to leave.
"Wait."
A frown of worry on her, she looked back at him.
"Who...are you?"
Her eyes widened as if she had not expected that question. She hesitated. "Um...my name is-."
A voice broke through the serenity that surrounded both children. The girl's body tensed and he saw fear in her green eyes. The voice called out again the girl's name but he couldn't make it out for it was muffled. He knew the voice though. Boris.
She looked back at him. "I have to go." she said softly her voice betraying that emotions she felt.
He nodded. The girl gave him a small smile before she ran off down the hallway. He stared after her, his hand without realizing touched his bandaged left arm.
Like always Kai sat up in his bed, struggling to control his ragged breathing. His eyes stared ahead not really seeing anything. His hand went to his left arm. He could still feel the secure tightness of the cloth that bounded his injured arm in his dream.
Another memory?
He shook his head as he glanced at the window. The first rays of morning light spilled in from the window. Moving with fluent silent stealth, Kai left the bedroom and stepped outside.
To his surprise, someone else was there. Jade was sitting on the steps of the chalet, watching as the sun rosed. She looked up when she saw him.
"Morning, sunshine." she said in a way of greeting.
He grunted in reply.
She was unaffected by his nonchalant answer. She turned to gaze back at the sun. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
Kai could see what she meant as he gazed at the sun too. Pale yellow red rays of light colored the sky as the big ball of fire rose slowly in the horizon. Its heat stretched out warming him, chasing away the ghost of his dream.
"When I was young, my mom and I used to watch the sunrise." Jade said softly.
He looked down at her, surprise to hear her talk about her past. She never did. Every time one of the others tried getting her to open up, she would ignore them or change the subject. She never once spoke of her past as she did now.
"And in the evenings in winter, we used to watch the sunset." she went on. Her lower lip trembled.
Kai felt his heart unwillingly softened.
About time too, the voice in his head snickered.
Kai chose to ignore it. Instead he focused on Jade. "What happened to your father?" he asked.
She let out a short bitter laugh, laughing to only a joke she knew. "He left my mom and I when I was just a baby."
"And...what happened to your mother?"
She was quiet for a while. Her eyes misted. Then when she spoke, her voice was soft, barely restraining the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. After all those years, it was still hard to open up to someone about her mother's death. "It happened so fast. I was only five then when it happened. We were coming out of a shop where she had gotten Draizer's blade from a friend. She was giving it to me when this man...he came out of nowhere." her voice caught. Her memories of that fateful day played in her mind like horror movie. "The police couldn't believe it could happen in broad daylight on a busy street. He had a knife concealed in his jacket. None of us knew it until he came up from behind and stabbed her. He stabbed her three times. He got away and nobody tried to stop him. She died of blood loss right there on that street in front of me. And there was nothing I could do to help her..."
"What could you have done?" Kai asked her quietly. He sat down next to her.
She shrugged. The memory of her younger self kneeling next to her mother's still body with blood pooling around her still burned in her mind "I don't know...I could have done...something..."
"Jade, you were only a kid then. It is not your fault you couldn't have done anything." he told her. "That was then. You were still young then." and innocent.
She sighed, unconsciously leaning a little on him. He tensed but when he realized she wasn't paying attention, he let it go.
"I guess so." she said. "It's just that sometimes..." she took a deep breath and let it out.
"You miss her." he finished for her.
Jade nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. Kai kicked himself mentally for liking the feeling. It was almost like that night at the BBA Nite when they had danced together. She had been relaxed, almost trusting like she was now. He couldn't help the foreign feelings that prodded at his chest.
Ray stiffened a yawn as he opened the front door slowly and stopped when he saw Jade and Kai sitting close to each other. They hadn't heard him and he wasn't going about to let them. He pulled the door close softly until there was barely a creak for him to watch them.
Behind him, Max was coming out of the room, rubbing his eyes. He opened his mouth to greet Driger's master but Ray's gesture of a finger to his lips indicated silence. Frowning, Max too took a peek at what was Ray looking at and a grin appeared on his face.
Both bladers shared a look of satisfaction as they closed the door silently to leave the two outside alone.
"Jade?"
"Hm...?"
"I'm sorry." he said quietly, his sincerity clear in his voice.
She looked at him and her lips curved into a lovely smile. "Thank you, Kai." she said softly.
There was something about her smile that seemed familiar.
He looked away, focusing on the sun now in the sky. She was very beautiful when she smiled. Especially when she smiled at him. It made him feel peaceful, a feeling he hadn't felt in a very long time. A part of him didn't want this moment to end but in the surface he knew it can't last. All those emotions he fought to keep under his control were on the verge of breaking though the wall he made around himself. No one has ever made him feel like this. To tell the truth he haven't felt in a very long time, thanks to Boris and Voltaire.
"Kai?'
He looked at her.
She stared at the sun, not looking at him. "What I just told you...Kai..." she said struggling to keep her voice evenly calm. "You can't tell them."
"Why?" he asked.
She sighed, standing up and turned to gaze at him with impenetrable eyes. "I have my reasons." she said softly.
For a moment he caught a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. "Jade-." he stood up too, wanting to reach out to her.
"Promise me, Kai." she insisted. She held his gaze almost pleadingly. "They must never know."
He wanted to argue but staring into her eyes, he knew he can't. "I promise." he muttered.
She reached out and touched his left arm gently. She smiled but it was a sad smile. "Thank you." she said very softly and headed into the chalet. Jade paused with a hand on the door. She glanced back at the bluenette briefly, thinking about her actions and what she had said to him before she entered the chalet. Thank you, Kai...for everything...
Kai touched his arm where she had touched him briefly, stunned by the familiarity of the gesture. What the...? Just like my...my dream...Why...
"Check this out, guys!" Kenny exclaimed later on the plane that will take them back to Japan. He stood up in his seat up front, holding up a newspaper for the Bladebreakers to see. "We made front page!"
Tyson and Max snatched the paper from Kenny's hand, fighting over it like kids, trying to get a glimpse of the news.
"Let me see!" Tyson said when Max succeeded in keeping the paper from his reach.
"Knock it off, Tyson." Max said trying to read the article.
"Hah!" Tyson declared triumphantly grabbing the paper. "Now let's see what the press has to say about me..." his words faded as he read the article. Seconds later, his voice rang out filled with surprise. "Hey! Most of it is only about Jade and Kai."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Tyson." Kenny said. "But you won't listen."
"Awesome." Max exclaimed. Twisting in his seat, he called out to Jade and Kai, who were seated at the back in seats across each other. "Hey, look. You made front page."
Kai grunted his disinterest.
"We all did." Ray reminded the hyper-blonde kid. He sat in the seat across Tyson and Max.
"Yes. But Jade and Kai did the most work. Especially with the odds are against them." Kenny explained. "Plus I believe this'd Jade's first breakthrough since she joined our team."
"Jade, take a look." Max called to the dark-haired girl listening to her Discman.
"It even has our team picture on it." Tyson informed her.
Startled, she opened her eyes out and she removed the headphones. "What? Let me see that."
Max tossed the newspaper to her and she caught it easily, frowning as she stared at it. Her eyes darkened as she scanned the article quickly but what worried her most was the picture of the team with her in it on the front page of the paper. Ice cold numbness washed over her as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice on her. She could barely suppress the shivers running down her spine. Her body trembled from the effort to stay calm and compose.
"Yo, Jade?" Ray called looking over his seat. "Are you okay? You look kinda pale."
"Leave her alone, Ray." Kenny said. "She's probably can't believe what she's seeing."
"I know you were like that when the Bladebreakers made their first debut." Dizzi said.
"No, I wasn't!"
Kenny has no idea he just nailed it over the head. She couldn't believe what she was seeing before her printed out in colors on paper. How could I be so careless? How could I have let my guard down? After all this years...? Dammit! What have I done? The Bladebreakers will be in danger now because of me...
The realization hit her like a blow in the gut. I'm no longer safe...and neither are they...
Tears came to her eyes but she held them back. She was good at that. Her hand slipped to her belt, pulling out her Beyblade and she clutched it tightly, seeking assurance and warmth from her Bitbeast. Draizer's Bit glowed faintly, giving its master what she needed and more. Even then, Draizer's fire could not chase away completely the ghosts of her past. Her grip tightened as she closed her eyes and prayed silently.
Draizer...what am I going to do now...
Kai watched the Bladebreakers's one and only female member from the corner of his eye from the moment Ray had pointed out her reaction after reading the news and judging by her expression, he could tell she wasn't as glad to see her name in prints as the others was.
Why is that? Any other person would be jumping in joy... so what's her problem?
He thought of asking her but something told him to keep the question to himself. Was it the look in her eyes? Those haunted green eyes that were the opposite of those in his dream? A thought occurred to him then.
Does it have something to do with her past after her mother's death?
With something in mind to ponder over on the way back to Japan, Kai rested his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes. He became aware of the prodding feeling in his thigh. Sighing under his breath, he opened his eyes and pulled out the necklace with the red phoenix pendent he had intended for Jade from his pocket. Now he glared at it almost angrily, wondering what in the devil's name that made him buy the darn thing.
On second thought, don't answer that, he warned the annoying voice in his head.
All he won was a chuckle. He stared at the necklace, wondering absently when he could give it to her and with what reason. He took a deep breath and returned to necklace to its place in his pocket.
