A/N: Hi, everyone! Oh, I was so happy with all the reviews I recieved for this story! To tell you the truth, this killing Kai has been something I've been wanting to try for a long time, but I couldn't come up with a good storyline! Thank goodness for 'The Phantom of the Opera' soundtrack!

Not to mention that I was unsure if I could actually go ahead and kill Kai... But I did! Haha!

Mei: To all those who read and reviewed the prologue and the first chapter, a VERY big THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

Aki: Yeah, what she said...

Me: Angel del Silencio, thank you for that comment 'You got my hopes up etc.' in your review; that's exactly what I was striving for! Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

Disclaimer: Isn't it obvious?

Chapter 2: Boku O Wasuremasen

It was a typical summer's day: rather hot, but not uncomfortable; the breeze, as was usual these days, was fresh and cool; and the birds, nested within the boughs of various trees, were twittering their songs of happiness and goodwill.

Hiromi sighed as she gazed at her surroundings. It was another sunny day, and she should have been cheerful. Instead, she was seated here on Takao's back porch, feeling only emptiness inside of her.

It had been three months since they had discovered Kai's body in the corridor, the shattered Dranzer blade, and on the floor in front of him, the still intact and forlorn-looking bit chip. They had thought that he was asleep, until Takao had attempted to rouse him and found him limp, lifeless.

It was a distressing time for the Beyblading world. It marked the first time in all history that someone died from what seemed an innocent game of spinning tops. Because of the incident, kids were nearly afraid to engage in what once had been their favorite pastime. Though the paranoia had died down, it was still rare to find children playing the game in the park and in other recreational areas; the tournaments had grown scarce, too.

As for Kai, the doctors had diagnosed exhaustion – explainable, since Kai had expended so much energy merely willing his Dranzer to battle on, but it was still questionable. If it was only exhaustion, why, then, was Kai not among them now? The remaining members of Team BBA, and Hiromi, of course, refused to believe that that was the only cause. There had to be something else, but they couldn't find out what exactly it was.

Hiromi sighed again and sniffed, suddenly aware that her eyes were beginning to water. She reached upward with a hand to wipe away the few tears that were trickling down her cheeks, and then blinked to keep more tears from falling.

Suddenly, her stomach lurched, and she brought a hand to her mouth. Quickly, she got up and ran for the bathroom, stumbling as she went.

"So, are we good to go?" Takao asked as he fingered his favorite red-and-blue baseball cap. He glanced around at his friends. He saw Max leaning against one of the gateposts, a habit he had incurred quite recently; he shrugged it off. Standing beside the blonde-haired teen was raven-haired Rei, who caught Takao looking at him and grinned. Takao grinned back. Still seated on his favorite spot on the front porch, tapping away on his computer, was Kyouju. And Kai…Kai was nowhere to be seen.

The stormy-eyed blader shook his head. Three months, and he still wasn't used to not seeing his captain whenever the group got together. He sighed. Such a seemingly innocent game, and it had taken the life of one of the most important people in his life.

Then something dawned on him. "Hey, has anyone seen Hiromi?"

Max glanced up, puzzled. "Did you…check the back of the house?"

Kyouju looked up from his laptop and nodded. "Yeah. I noticed she's gotten into the habit of separating from the group – whenever we're here - and visiting your backyard, Takao."

"You know, you're right…" Takao said thoughtfully. "I didn't think to check there." He turned and started off. "Wait here!"

He rounded the corner of the house at a rather fast clip, and skidded to a stop when he reached the back porch; Hiromi was not there.

Strange… he thought as he hopped up onto the raised wooden structure. I thought for sure she'd be here… He turned slightly to gaze at the backyard, and sighed. He remembered that Kyouju and Hiromi had sat here on that day they had gotten the new MG core and were trying it out. All of them – Max, Rei, Takao, and Kai – were there that day, and they were all having the same trouble with their blades – they couldn't control them. Hiromi had been the newest 'addition' to there group back then, and Takao hadn't liked the idea of a girl on the team back then. However, she had proven herself useful to the team when she devised a training program for them to be able to master the MG core.

It struck Takao just how much Kai had changed since Hiromi joined them. Back then, he was still keen on pushing his team to train, but he had acted…different, somehow.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of rushing water coming from inside the house. He turned quickly and then rushed inside just in time to see the auburn-haired female exit the bathroom.

"Hiromi! There you are!" Takao greeted, grinning widely. The ruby-eyed teen looked up, surprised.

"Oh, hey!" she grinned back, attempting to hide her earlier shock at finding the brunette in the house.

"What were you doing in the bathroom just now?" Takao asked.

"I, err…needed to do 'something'…" Hiromi replied vaguely. Takao nodded, showing he understood, when in reality, he didn't.

"Oh…okay." He held out a hand, a gesture to come closer. "C'mon, the whole gang's here and we're ready to hit the streets!"

"Well, what's left of it…" Hiromi muttered sadly under her breath. Wordlessly, she took the brunette's hand and followed him back outside.

"Uh, Hiromi, are you okay?" Max asked, suddenly putting his face in front of the auburn-haired teen's own.

Hiromi looked puzzled. "Huh? What do you mean, Max?" The group had just finished lunch and had roamed around the mall for around an hour. They didn't really know what they were doing there, but each one understood, through a silent agreement, to spend as much time with each other as possible; they couldn't tell whether or not in the near future, another of them would be taken.

"Well…" the sapphire-eyed teen looked worried. "You seem sort of…nauseous."

"Yeah…you look like you want to hurl…" Takao said, glancing up from his ice cream cone.

"I think I ate too much ramen…" Hiromi grinned, trying to reassure her companions. "Really, there's nothing to worry about!"

"Are you sure you don't need to use the restroom?" Rei pressed. "I know where the nearest one is."

"I'm fine, guys!" Hiromi insisted. She hated it when they fussed over her; she was perfectly capable of handling herself.

"Okay…just tell us when…you feel sort of different, all right?" Kyouju asked, looking up at her with concern in his eyes.

"Sure, I'll do that…" Hiromi said, suddenly distracted by an in-mall hobby shop tournament. Not too many children were gathered, but that doesn't mean there weren't any spectators. She stopped to watch; the four boys noticed.

"Hey, what's that?" Max asked, standing next to the ruby-eyed teen. Rei, Kyouju, and Takao gathered behind the two.

"A hobby shop tournament." Hiromi said simply, not moving her gaze from the two kids who were obviously the two remaining contestants.

Max smiled, relieved that at least the interest in Beyblade was returning, even at such a slow pace, and then he moved closer to see the dish better. And he gasped.

One of the children was using a commercialized version of Dranzer S, the same blade Kai had used when he went against Max in the semi-finals of the Japanese Regional Finals, the one event that brought the members of Team BBA together.

He sighed sadly as he recalled the battle. It had been such a good match; Max had tried his hardest, used every tactic he knew back then, but Kai still won in the end.

A replay had occurred a mere two years later, when the members of Team BBA had to be separated into different teams – Max went to Team PPB; Rei, Baifuzu X; Kai, Neoborg; and Takao, Team BBA Revolution. At some point in the tournament, Max's and Kai's teams had had to fight each other, and it fell to the two former teammates to battle it out to secure a spot in the semi-finals. Kai won that time, too, but the second battle was more memorable for Max, for the slate-haired teen had acknowledged his respect for the blonde teen. For Max, there were no losers that day.

He sighed again, and reached up to wipe the single tear that managed to find its way onto his cheek.

"Ah, show's over…" Takao commented, turning away from the hobby shop. "Let's go." The others turned to follow, but Max stopped them.

"Hang on a minute…who won?" he asked. Apparently, he hadn't paid much attention to the match.

"The kid with the Zeus blade." Hiromi said, an edge of bitterness in her voice.

"Oh…" Max said, nodding to show he understood. No wonder his friends had wanted to leave the scene so quickly; they didn't want to be reminded of their former captain's final battle.

Quietly, the walked away from the shop, each one lost in their own thoughts.

"Kinomiya!" Takao halted at the sound of the familiar voice. Though the steel blue-eyed teen was the only one called, Rei, Max, Kyouju, and Hiromi all turned around as well. Walking towards them at a rather fast clip were Yuri and Boris, two of Kai's former teammates on Neoborg.

"Yuri, hey!" Takao said, raising a hand in greeting.

The crimson-haired teen smiled back, as did Boris. "What are you doing here in the mall?" Yuri asked.

Takao had to smile at Yuri's attempt at conversation; the wielder of the ice wolf wasn't well known for his social skills, which left much to be desired. "Well, we thought we'd just…hang out for a bit…"

Boris nodded. "I…see," he said. Apparently, he and Yuri had changed a lot since Team BBA first met them in Moscow, Russia, for the World Championships. Back then, Neoborg – or Borg, as it was known before – Yuri, Boris, and their two other companions Sergei and Ivan hadn't only been unsociable; they were downright cold, calculating, and unfeeling, with no concern for others apart from themselves and victory.

Rei looked off into the distance. He knew that he and his companions all had a part in bringing down Borg, not to mention bringing about a change in its members for the better, but the neko-jin couldn't help but feel that a greater part of the success was due to Kai.

That year, Kai had defected to the Russian team, gaining in return the evil bit beast that was Black Dranzer, the 'most powerful bit beast in the world', according to its creator, Balkov, one of Hiwatari Souchirou's lackeys. However, after the incident at Lake Baikal – where Kai had challenged all of them using his black bit beast – the amethyst-eyed teen had realized what his true priorities were and returned to Team Japan. Soon after joining them again, he revealed to them the secret nature of the Balkov Abbey trainees, most important of all the four members of Borg.

The amber-eyed teen also couldn't forget the third round of his own match against Boris, the lilac-haired teen that stood before him now. Boris as a human being was the coldest of the lot, and as a blader, he was downright vicious. Rei had to be carried off to the back room twice in order to recover, but each time the Chinese lad had rebounded and continued with the battle. Before he could leave the back room, so he could start – and hopefully finish – the final round, Kai had said something to him that meant so much at that time, mainly because he didn't often show such gestures of kindness or concern. Four simple words, but they had turned the tide in Rei's favor.

Rei smiled as he closed his eyes. He could still hear Kai's voice: "Good luck, my friend."

It saddened him to think that never again would he hear the slate-haired teen speak, whether it were words of wisdom or criticism that issued forth.

"Maybe you'd like to accompany us for a while?" Yuri was saying as Rei snapped back to reality. "We have…something you might like to see…"

"All right, I'm game!" Takao replied instantly. "Bring it on!"

"So, what's this you wanted us to see?" Max asked, stepping over a rotting banana peel. Yuri and Boris had led the group to the apartment they were currently sharing. Needless to say, the two Russians weren't very good at cleaning up after themselves.

The crimson-haired teen was silent as he stepped over to a VCD player. He rummaged through several piles of CDs for a few moments before pulling one out. Once more he approached the group, Boris close on his heels. "Chairman Daitouji thought you'd like to have this," Yuri said as he held out his hand.

Takao looked down. In his ex-rival's hand lay a plain, white CD. He glanced back up at the slightly taller teen. "Err, thanks, but…what is it?"

Boris sighed. The lilac-haired teen had come far since his days of being a heartless blader. Yes, he could still be insensitive at times, but he had already begun to rediscover his feelings, long buried within him because of his training at the abbey. He knew what the teens in front of him were feeling; they all had lost someone dear to them. "It's…a record." He said, placing his hands in his pockets. "A record of all of Kai's battles. The chairman thought that you'd like to have a more…material memory of him."

Takao's hand shook as he accepted the CD from Yuri. Their eyes met for a moment, steel blue and light violet. The brunette nearly drew back at the well of emotion he could, for the first time, read in the Russian's eyes.

Sadness.

Betrayal.

Hurt.

Confusion.

Takao blinked, as though to confirm what he was seeing. They were there, the emotions, as well as the questions so similar to his – Takao's – questions, left unanswered even now, three entire months, after one teen's death.

He forced himself to smile, to keep the tears inside. "Th-thanks, Yuri. Can you…can you tell Chairman Daitouji that we appreciate the gesture?" The violet-eyed teen nodded sullenly. "Thanks. Again."

"Anytime." Yuri and Boris replied in unison. The two Russian bladers glanced at each other, surprised – this was the first time they had said something at the same time – and, after a few moments' silence, chuckled slightly.

Takao laughed, too. It was contagious; plus, it felt good to laugh. There had been almost no opportunity to indulge in such an activity ever since Kai had done; there had simply been no reason to.

Pretty soon, even Hiromi was giggling, her shoulders shaking in quiet laughter.

After a few more minutes of chuckling, everyone managed to calm down enough to speak. Takao sat down on a nearby wooden chair.

"Does anyone know why we were laughing back there?" he asked, glancing around at his companions.

Max shrugged; Rei shook his head, as did Kyouju; Hiromi…well, Hiromi was still busy giggling – though at a slower rate – to reply. Only Yuri and Boris gave a verbal answer, which was, of course, 'no'. That set them off again, but only for a short while.

When they had all calmed down once more, Max was the one who spoke up first this time. Grinning now, he looked at Boris and Yuri gratefully. "Thanks again, guys, for the CD." He turned to his teammates. "Are we going now?" Kyouju and Rei nodded in reply; Max turned back to the Russian bladers. "Well, I guess that's it, then. See you, Yuri, Boris."

"Yeah, see you next time." Yuri said, also grinning. He didn't mind that the remaining members of Team BBA had turned and were now headed for the door.

"Oh, and if you each want a copy – you know, all to yourself – just tell us, okay? We have the original and can always copy it whenever we want." Boris called after them.

Rei, who had now reached the doorway, turned to glance at their newfound friends and smiled. "Sure, Boris. Thanks. We'll look you up on that offer when we've thought about it." The neko-jin raised raised a hand in farewell, and was gone. The door swung shut quietly after him, leaving now sign that another human had set foot in the apartment aside from its occupants.

Yuri glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye. "Is it just me, or did we actually invite someone to 'our place'?" he asked, still trying to get over what they had just done.

Boris simply smiled. "Yes, Yuri, that we did."

The apartment was silent for a few moments. Only Boris moved to seat himself on the comfortable couch situated by the window. Then the crimson-haired teen spoke up once more.

"Wonder what Kai's face would have been when he saw us do that?"

Boris gave a bark of laughter. "Priceless!"

"So…you guys want to watch this when we get back to the dojo?" Takao asked, fingering the CD case.

"Sure, why not?" Hiromi answered instantly. She'd only seen Kai's battles from last year, when she first met the group world-class bladers that would soon become her constant companions.

"Well, I've got nothing better to do…" Kyouju said thoughtfully.

"Me, too. I don't have any other plans for the day." Max added. Rei said nothing.

"I guess that settles it," Takao said, half-turning so he could keep his friends in his line of sight. "C'mon guys! Let's hurry back! This no doubt contains Kai's battles from this year's championship, not to mention the Justice Five tournament, and you know how long those were compared to before…"

"Yeah." Kyouju nodded in agreement. "Two years ago, Kai could have sent a blade out of the dish in literally the blink of an eye, unless his opponent was really good."

"Really?" Hiromi went wide-eyed at the thought of a split-second match. This she had to see!

"Kyouju, hurry! It's about to start!" Max called excitedly from the Kinomiya living room, the one room in the entire dojo that had a modern television hook-up – cable, CD/DVD players, stereos, etc.

"I'm coming!" the bespectacled teen called from the kitchen. "I was just getting a glass of water!"

"Well, bring it with you!" Takao shouted, his eyes glued to the screen. The screen was totally black, but he knew that the CD was already playing because music was coming from the speakers. It was something like the opening credits of a movie, only with no credits.

The mousy-haired teen suddenly appeared in the doorway and joined the group huddled together on the floor. "Did I miss anything?" he asked.

Rei shook his head, staring intently at the television screen. "The first battle is yet to come on."

"Good."

A few moments later, the opening scenes from the qualifying round in the first Japanese Regional Tournament came on.

"Hey! That's Kyouju!" Hiromi exclaimed, pointing to one of the competitors who had made it to the final round of that block. Indeed, it was the Chief, oversized spectacles and all.

Kyouju grinned and blushed, rather embarrassed that he had been caught on video that time.

The bespectacled teen had joined that first Japanese tournament along with Takao and Max; he'd even constructed his own blade specifically for the event. It looked like any other Beyblade, but its base had a spring attached to it, allowing it to jump in order to avoid most attacks.

"There's Kai!" the cry came a few minutes later as the slate-haired teen came on screen. Only he was younger in the video, and he wore the black tank top and sneakers, baggy cargoes, and snow-white scarf; Hiromi had never seen that particular outfit, but for her, it looked like just something Kai would pull together.

And so it went. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the rather lengthy video – one of the few tokens they had left of their stoic captain. Hiromi fell to observing Kai's personality and battle style, and found that nearly nothing had changed in the three years he had been blading. The members of team BBA were silent, miserable that they would never see another blader quite like the amethyst-eyed teen had been, yet content that they had this memoir to cherish.

Finally, the video ended, and Takao stood up to retrieve it from the player. "You know," he said, after some time, his back still turned to them. "We could…try to use some of his techniques, if ever another tournament comes up."

"Huh?" Kyouju glanced up. What was Takao talking about?

"We could modify some of Kai's techniques for us to use…that way, a little bit of him would stay behind, right?" Takao turned to face his friends; they noted the wet glistening of his steel-blue eyes, and knew that he was still grieving, just as they were. "So, you guys up for it?" he asked, smiling a rather watery smile.

"So that we won't forget him, right?" Max spoke, smiling back at his friend.

"Yeah, exactly." Takao said, nodding a little too vigorously.

"If that's the case, Takao…" Rei stood up, went over to the brunette and placed a hand on the slightly younger teen's shoulder, "then I don't think there's any need to do that."

"But – why?" Takao looked shocked. "You guys don't want to forget him, too, right?" he glanced at his teammates. They nodded, indicating he should continue. "Then…why shouldn't we modify some of his moves? I don't get it!"

"Don't you see?" Max asked as he stood up and moved to his friend's other side. "Although Kai is gone, he'll never disappear completely as long as we remember him."

"Max is right, Takao," Hiromi said, sounding rather sullen; Takao couldn't be sure, though, because her eyes were hidden by her long auburn bangs. "The only time he'll be gone for good is when we choose to forget him, and I don't think that's going to happen in long time."

"You're right, guys…" Takao said after a few moments, smiling sheepishly. "I guess…I just miss the way he'd train us and everything…him being captain and all…"

"We know, Takao…We-huh?" Max did a double take, glancing at the stormy-eyed teen in bewilderment. "Did you just say you miss Kai's training?"

Takao laughed, nodding. "Yup! Pretty strange, huh?"

"I'll say," Rei said, smiling too. "You used to complain about training all the time!"

"I guess this would be an example of 'you don't know how much something is worth until it's gone'." Kyouju said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt before putting them back on.

Everyone nodded in agreement, then became silent once more, each one lost in thought about the friend they had lost, but would never be gone from them completely.

It was pretty nice of Chairman Daitouji to give us the CD…Hiromi thought as she made her way home. 'Home' for her was a rather small, but comfortable one-story Western-style house a few blocks away from the Kinomiya Dojo. Her father had died long ago – when she was only five – so it was just she and her mother living there now.

Hiromi glanced up at the sky, which was slowly turning a deep purple, a sign that night was on its way. She sighed and shook her head at how strange it was that, when her father had died, she had cried her heart out and felt better about a mere two weeks later – meaning she didn't mind if someone brought up the subject; she could talk about it and not get teary-eyed. With Kai, however, it was a different story. She'd had the same reaction as with her father's death – she did a lot of crying those first two days after they learned he had gone – yet here she was, three months later, and even just thinking about the slate-haired teen made her want to break down all over again.

She glanced down at the slim gold band she wore on her left ring finger. Perhaps it was because of the…bond she shared with Kai. She eased the ring off and stood quite still for some time on the sidewalk, doing nothing except examining the golden object she held between thumb and forefinger. She slipped it on again. It had seemed like only yesterday that it had happened, but in reality it had been much longer. She sighed once more and resumed walking.

After a few more minutes, she reached the street across from her house. To her surprise, there was a police car, an ambulance, and a small crowd gathered in front. Fearing the worst, she ran across the street, not even bothering to check for oncoming traffic.

"Sumimasen…sumimasen…please, let me through!" the ruby-eyed girl said as she pushed her way through the small throng of people in order to reach the gate. Soon, however, she wished she hadn't hurried; a mere two feet in front of her were two orderlies. Between them was a stretcher and on the stretcher…was her mother. The rather plump Mrs. Tachibana was still breathing, apparently, but was unconscious; also, as is hospital protocol, the middle-aged lady was hooked up to an I.V. line, which was held aloft by a third orderly.

"Okaasan!" Hiromi exclaimed, rushing immediately to her mother's side. Before she could reach her, though, she was restrained by one of the policemen. "Let me go!" she exclaimed as forcefully as she could, not an easy task because of the lump that was starting to form in her throat.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that," the policeman said gently, smiling. "I-"

"She's my mother!" Hiromi was incensed now, and she struggled against the man's firm grip. "Why can't I go to her?"

The first officer was about to reply when a second, friendlier-looking one approached. "It's all right, Tokaki-san," he said, smiling understandingly at Hiromi. "Let her go with the ambulance. If she's an immediate relative, then she has every right to go."

After a few moments, the first officer, Tokaki, released her. Hiromi immediately ran towards the waiting ambulance, stumbling a few times on the way there. Soon she was inside the sterile gray interior of the medical vehicle. The rear door slammed shut, there was a shudder as the engine roared to life, and the ambulance sped away.

The ambulance sped through the streets, its siren screaming into the night. The first stars had already begun to appear, but their light could not reach the hysterical girl within the ambulance. The girl, Hiromi, held on to her mother's hand with all her might, while hoping, praying, that her one and only living relative would be all right.

A/N: Another chapter done! Yay! I'm very mean, aren't I?

Mei: Yeah, you are! First you kill Kai, leaving Hiromi without her boyfriend, and now you-

Aki: Mei! You're going to spoil the story if you don't keep quiet!

Mei: Oopsies! smiles sheepishly

Me: Don't mind them, folks...those muses of mine can get rather cranky with each other at times...At any rate, kindly let me know what you think of this second chapter! Points for improvement are VERY welcome, believe me!

Dewa matta! God bless you, one and all! Peace out!