Amadeo's Punishment


The five children waited patiently as the Master's of the school spoke in hushed tones to the two parents and visiting Aunts and Uncles. Jared moaned slightly in fear as his Aunt Clair sent a vicious look in his direction- right about now disappearing sounded like a plausible idea to the whole lot of them. The green haired boy stole a quick glance at Amadeo who had broken into a light sweat from having to stay put for so long with nothing to do.

When all was said and done, only two of the five remained in the room. Jared- on top of the hits he had already taken for handling a weapon- was to be placed in a month's detention without probation as requested by his Aunt and Uncle. Amadeo raised his sweaty right hand to the bulge in his uniform. Fear, Jared realized, was what had cause the shivers that raced up and down his friend's spine and the sudden perspiration to form on the other boys brow. Getting up the last ounce of his courage, the small boy reached for the other and grabbed his hand to hold it firmly at his side while they waited.

"Huh?" Amadeo gasped as he realized that his friend had remained to help him once again. It seemed like an eternity before any of the older men of the school approached the two children. Kenny's eyes held a sense of lost respect for his son and Kai wore a grim smile of someone who knew of and had been in this similar situation once before with another man. "Father? Papa?" Amadeo started but the two adults did not let him finish.

"Deo, I'm very disappointed in you: fighting on school grounds. In fact, it hurts me to think that you fought at all in that sort of manner." Kenny started. "Perhaps your punishment should be the most severe of all for not keeping your head under desperate circumstances."

"I agree, Papa." Amadeo whispered softly. "Whatever you come up with I will accept it without a fight."

"I think I should administer that punishment, Honey. After all, he needs to know that I'm not a softy all the time and he needs to understand the consequences of his actions no matter how noble or honorable they were."

"I understand."

Kai took a deep breath as he knelt to eye level with his four and a half year old son and sighed in misery as he knew what he was going to do would hurt them both drastically, yet there seemed to be no other alternative to the ordeal. "Amadeo, I'm only going to ask this of you once and only once." The child nodded. "Give me your blade."

Kenny's breath hitched in his throat and Amadeo let out a strangled scream before clamping his teeth down on his lower lip and drawing blood. "Papa, Daddy, please, please don't take it away from me. Please? I'll do anything for anyone, but please don't take Dizzy away from me!"

"I'm sorry, Amadeo, but that is your punishment along with the fact that you are to stay away from the practice rooms until I see fit to relinquish what I've taken." Kai said slowly as he got up and walked away. Jared, who had barely understood a word of what was going on, somehow found he was holding onto his friend's sob-ridden form in a faint hope to help him recover.


Kai found himself inside Tala's office soon after leaving his son and wife to soak up the fact of what he had done. The red head seemed surprised to see the dual-haired man enter and leave without a second look except to place what looked like a beyblade on his desk.

"Huh, um… Kai? Kai?" Tala called out to the other but he had already disappeared down the hall and into the courtyard outside.

Moments later, Kenny walked in and sat down on the love seat near the window. "He came here, didn't he?"

"How could you tell?"

"I can smell his aftershave."

"Oh, I… Kenny, what happen when I left the room? Please tell me that he did not really take that boy's beloved blade away?"

"I can't do that, Tala; that would be lying. He also wants you to keep Deo away from the practice rooms until his father sees fit." The red head shifted in his leather chair and sighed.

"Then I guess we're going to have a problem here at the school aren't we?"

"Yes. With his blade locked away from him, Amadeo's learning skills are going to skyrocket in no time and he'll be as good as- if not better- than the people teaching him."


The next morning, Amadeo woke to the sound of someone singing in his ear and as the room came into focus, he realized that it had been Tara. The silence of the room was unnerving as the five children sat there waiting for one another to start the conversation. Suddenly, Amadeo spoke. His voice made the two girls jump and Alex took a step back to stand behind Jared. It wasn't the cool, confident tone they were now use to hearing, it was as if Amadeo had been replaced by someone so much more colder than the boy who took the school by storm with his skills as a beyblader.

"Get out."

"Huh, hey man, we were worried about you." Jared shot back.

"I know. But I need you to get out right now so I can get ready for classes." Amadeo reasoned. "I don't mean to sound rude or cruel, I just want to get dressed for class."

"OK, Deo. Do you want us to wait outside?" Tara asked softly. "We could you know."

"No, that's alright. I don't want you guys getting detention because you had to wait for me. You go on without me and I'll see you there." He sat up and got dressed. As he went to class he knew that this would be his new morning routine with the group. From the shadows, Tala watched as his young charge blindly found his way to his first class.

"Now the real trouble begins." He whispered.


I know it's short, but, please, bear with me?