A/N: Yay! Next chapter! Ahehe...

Disclaimer:...nope.

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Chapter 5: Bringing up the Past

"Aika!" 22-year-old Hiromi – rather matured now – half-shouted when she spotted her daughter trying to sneak past her and out the back door. "What did I tell you about touching those?"

"Huh?" The ruby-eyed toddler put on an innocent look. "Touching what, Mommy?" She shuffled a bit, and then stood quite still, her hands behind her back. Aika was five years old now; she'd lost some of her baby fat, her face was less round, and her hair was longer and a bit thicker now. She wore it now in two braids that seemed to sprout from the sides of her head, and, paired with the pleated skirt and pink shirt he had on, the overall image was innocent and playful, but Hiromi knew what went on in the child's mind.

"Let me see…" the auburn-haired young woman held her hand out, indicating Aika was to do the same, too. The small girl heaved a big, fake sigh and held out her hands. In one, she held Kai's standard launcher, and in the other, she clutched the Dranzer MS – the 'toy' she'd been fascinated with ever since her babyhood. Hiromi frowned, and then gently grabbed her daughter's wrist, pulling her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"How many times have I told you not to play with those things?" Hiromi asked as she set the child down on the couch.

"Um…a gazillion?"

Hiromi shook her head. "There's no such thing as a 'gazillion', Aika-chan…" she said, sitting down beside the girl and gently taking the launcher and blade away.

"Mama, tell me about you and Papa. Please?"

Hiromi glanced at the small child and smiled a small smile; the pouting face was too cute and innocent to ignore. "Very well…" she sighed, picking up the girl and settling her in her lap. "Hmm…where should I start?"

"How 'bout…when you first met?" Aika suggested, swinging her small legs excitedly.

"All right…it was around six years ago when I first met your father." She laughed gently. "He was so different back then! Wouldn't you know, when I first introduced myself, he didn't even say hello; he just walked right past me!" Here she shrugged nonchalantly. "I thought he was a jerk then. Later on, we – your father, Rei, Max, Takao, Kyouju, and I – were kidnapped and taken to this island out in the middle of nowhere. We split up into two groups; your father went with your Uncle Kyouju and me. Then, we were on our way to this lighthouse when, all of a sudden, there was a huge rock fall. I thought we were going to be squashed flat, but your dad pushed me and Kyouju against the face of the mountain path we were walking, and stood in front of us like this-" here the auburn-haired young woman got up and reenacted the scene – "Acting as a shield against any stray rocks that would come our way."

"Did he get hurt?"

Hiromi shook her head. "Fortunately, he wasn't. It was then that I got to know the kind person he hid inside – he saved me twice that year. He wasn't very…open with others because he had a bad past, so whenever he'd tell me something, even if it were only minor stuff, it was kind of special. Anyway, through that first year together, we grew closer, you could say. And then, a year before you were born, he proposed to me. We were the only ones in the hotel room that time. Of course I said 'yes', and a few weeks later, we were married. It wasn't even a month after that that he…" the ruby-eyed young adult trailed off, her gaze settling on the blade and launcher that lay on the couch. Aika noticed this.

"Why don't you want me playing with those, Mama?"

Hiromi sighed. "They…bring back bad memories…"

"But how come?" Aika continued. "They're so shiny and the round top thingy looks so purdy! How can it be a bad mem'ry?"

The ruby-eyed mother had to smile at her child's mispronunciation of some of her words. "Well, I told you already, remember? They remind me…of your father."

"If they remind you of Papa, then they can't be bad, right? I heard Unca Rei say that the two of you seemed happy together…"

The young woman gathered Aika close in a hug, sighing as she did so. "Yes, I was happy with your father, but that Beyblade-"

"What's a 'Bleyblade'?" Aika interrupted, looking puzzled.

"The top thing you like playing with so much," Hiromi replied. "That's a Beyblade."

"Oh, okay…what were you saying, Mommy?"

"I said, that Beyblade also reminds me of how your father…" Hiromi trailed off, unable to finish.

"How Daddy died?" Aika asked after some time. Somehow, she could tell what her mother wanted to say, and she could feel the sadness in the way the young woman held her.

Hiromi nodded. "But he was a good blader – that's what you call those people who indulge in the sport of Beyblading."

"You mean the bey thingy is a real sport?"

"Yes, it is, and your father was very good at it. In fact, he was the captain of Team BBA, the team your Uncles Rei, Takao, Max, and Kyouju once belonged to."

"Wow! Papa was a team cap'n? Then he must be really good!"

"I suppose so…"

Both mother and child were silent for a while, and then Aika spoke up again. "So, if Papa was so good, then that means I should be good at it, too…" the young girl mused. "I still don't understand, Mama; how come you said that Daddy died from playing with the Beyblade. Did he swallow it and it got stuck in his throat?"

"No…I'm afraid it's a lot more complicated than that, Aika."

"What's 'compicated'?"

"The word is 'complicated', and it means 'not simple'."

"So what happened to Papa?"

"Well, he and his friends were trying to defeat a team called BEGA. Their leader was an evil man. They had defeated him a few years back, and this man – his name was Balkov – wanted revenge.

"Your father was against a young man his age, whose name was Brooklyn. Your dad managed to defeat his opponent, but in order to gather enough power for his bit beast to use for attacking – I'll explain what a bit beast is later – Kai, your dad, sort of used his remaining 'life force'. Brooklyn's bit beast, a dark one named Zeus, had already absorbed most of your dad's energy, I guess. After your Uncle Takao's battle – still against Brooklyn – we were on the way to the back room when we found your father slumped against the wall. We thought he was just unconscious, but…"

"He was dead?" Aika's ruby eyes were wide now. She didn't understand half of what her mother had just told her – she was only four – but from what she could understand, it had been a Beyblade that was partially responsible for her father's death. Her lower trip started to tremble. "I hate him…" she muttered in a shaky voice.

"Hate who, sweetie?" Hiromi asked, half-shocked that the small girl had said such a thing.

"Mr. Brooklyn, the one who made Daddy dead, that's who!" she said, garnet eyes threatening to spill over with angry tears. "If he didn't kill him, then we'd be an even happier family than if there were only the two of us!"

"Oh, Aika, I don't want you to feel that way about anyone…" Hiromi admonished quietly, giving the girl another hug. "It's not right to hate anyone, even if they did something bad to you or to someone you love."

"But-"

"I want you to promise me, Aika," Hiromi interrupted, looking deep into her child's eyes, "that you will not touch your father's blading things again."

Aika nodded. "I promise, Mama. I'll go put these back in your room now…"

"You do that…" Hiromi smiled as she watched the toddler slowly make her way towards the stairs and begin to climb. The girl's initial anger and 'hate' towards Brooklyn – even if she never saw him – seemed to have dissipated because she was humming 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' as she mounted to stairs.

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"Mama, can I ask a question?"

Hiromi looked up when Aika called her attention. So did everyone else. Hiromi and Aika had gone to Takao's house for dinner. It was a practice they formed ever since Aika was a year old: they would gather at someone's house once a month for a get-together. The auburn-haired woman smiled. "Of course! What is is, Aika-chan?"

Aika shuffled in her seat and played with her chopsticks for a while; she looked like she was having a hard time deciding whether or not to ask. Especially since all everyone – Takao, Max, Rei, and Kyouju – was looking at her. Finally, curiosity won, and she looked up. "Um…was Papa's bit beast a big red bird?"

Takao nearly dropped his chopsticks in shock, and he choked. Max patted his back, trying to help expel whatever it was that had gotten stuck

"How…how did you know that?" Hiromi asked, eyes wide.

"You mean…Dranzer was a birdie?" Aika cocked her head.

"Yes, dear, Dranzer was – no, is a large red bird. A phoenix, to be exact. Why do you ask?"

"'Cause I saw a big red bird in my dream last night, and then a while ago, before we came here and when I was returning the Beyblade stuff, I saw it again! It looked at me real funny, as though it were telling me something…"

"You dreamed of Dranzer?" Hiromi was shocked once more. "How long have you been having dreams about her? And you saw her?"

"Only last night…I don't know if I'm going to dream or see her again…" Aika reached for her cup and took a sip of water, then hopped down from her chair. "I'm goin' to go play now. Okay, Mommy?"

Hiromi nodded absentmindedly, and the slate-haired girl skipped off to her playroom. Everyone was silent, and then…

"Do any of you think she made that up?" Rei asked, setting his chopsticks down on the table.

"I'm not sure…" Takao replied, looking at his plate. "It's possible, though…

"Yeah, but don't you think it's too coincidental?" Max added. "I mean, what are the odds that she'd decide to pretend she saw a bit beast and that it would be a big red bird?"

"I agree," Kyouju spoke up. "It's too improbable that she'd come up with such a thing on the spur of the moment…"

"But what do you think it means?" Hiromi asked, looking worried.

"This is what I think," Kyouju answered after a rather uncomfortable silence. "We all know that a bit beast somehow chooses its master, right?" Everyone nodded, indicating to the bespectacled researcher (yes, until now, Kyouju stuck to researching and gathering data) to continue. "Well, it could mean that Dranzer has chosen her new master, one from her previous master's bloodline."

"What?" Hiromi stood up, causing her chair to slide noisily over the floor for a few centimeters. "That's impossible! Aika's just five! How can she be Dranzer's new master? I don't think she can even launch a Beyblade yet!"

"Um…" Takao broke in, looking sheepish. "There's just something we, err…neglected to tell you, Hiromi…

"Remember the day you left Aika with Takao, and when you came back, Kai's blade and launcher were on the floor and we said Aika had tried to play with them? The thing is…" the stormy-eyed young man took a deep breath, then continued. "A few hours before that, Aika had, erm…sort of launched the Dranzer MS…"

Ruby orbs grew wide, and Hiromi sank back into her chair. "But…if that happened…then that means…"

Kyouju nodded. "Yes. Kai's intuitive prowess with Beyblading was somehow passed on to Aika, and now that she's proven herself worthy of the bit beast, Dranzer has chosen her to wield it."

"But…but she's so young! What would happen to her if she engaged in a tournament at such a young age?"

Takao rested his hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Calm down, Hiromi; there aren't any tournaments for Beyblading yet. The BBA is still testing the waters, trying to see how people will react if such an event were to take place again."

"Besides, this is all speculation," Kyouju added, grinning at the ruby-eyed mother reassuringly. "It could mean something entirely different, such as…"

"Kai's spirit trying to make contact with Aika, in the form of Dranzer," Max ventured, smiling. "I read somewhere that some souls do that, trying to reach a loved with through a form of something close to the deceased person before he or she died."

"Max has a point," Rei said, nodding his head. "Kai was pretty close to Dranzer; maybe he's trying to reach Aika through that form because Aika's never seen him, so if he were to speak to her in his true form, she won't recognize him or something…"

"I guess…" Hiromi said slowly, drawing a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I got carried away; I just don't want anyone close to get hurt because of that sport again…"

"It's okay, Hiromi; we understand." Max smiled, and then stood up to bring his plate to the sink. "Oh, yeah, Rei, it's your turn to do the dishes, right?"

The neko-jin nodded. "Yup! Thanks for reminding me, Max."

"You're welcome," the blonde stepped aside to make way for the raven-haired man to bring everyone else's dishes to the sink so he – Rei – could begin cleaning them.

There was no other noise save the quiet running of the water into the sink, and then Takao spoke up.

"So…what do you guys say to making tonight a movie night?"

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A/N: UWAEEEH! Gomen, minna! I know it's kinda short, but my mind went blank after I typed this part up. I wanted to go directly into the next thing I had planned, but that wasn't supposed to come until Chapter Six or Seven, so I had to cut it short! Mou ichido, gomenasai...

Anyway, I hope you weren't too put off by the shortness of this chapter...Thanks in advance for R&Ring! Dewa mata! Peace out and God bless!