Author's Note: I greatly apperciate you all for reading this fanfiction. Its a new approach that I want to try as a writer for the TakaoxHiromi couple. So I'm going to stick with this so hang in there with me and I promise it will be worth it.

8888

An estatic Audrey and a mute Hiromi traveled their way through the congested airport until they reached the section for taxi pick up and drop off.

"It sure is a lot of people trying to catch a cab." Audrey was shockingly uttering while the pair was weaving through incoming as well as ongoing traffic of bodies.

On the other hand, Hiromi remained deep in her thoughts about what Audrey just revealed to her once they arrived in Beijing.

'Upon arrival make your way to the taxis. Search for your name on the board. Direct the driver to take you to the Forbidden City.'

"I see my name, Hiromi!" She loudly yells with her right arm outstretch with her index finger as a guide for Hiromi's eyes to follow.

"Oh and I think I see your name too!" The dirty blonde announces as she starts off in a light jog, which forces Hiromi to catch up with her.

Her ruby red eyes eventually landed on the whiteboard with their names written in plain English being held up by a taxi cab driver.

"Come on before someone takes our cab." Audrey eagerly urges once she stopped and realized that Hiromi was a couple of steps behind her.

The brunette increases the stride in her steps until she reaches where the dirty blonde waits for her along with the cab driver.

"He's ready to take us to where we need to go." Audrey proclaims with a wide smile present on her face while the cab driver shuffles his way over to open the door for the ladies.

She merely nodded her head to show that she understood the plan.

Hiromi watches Audrey about to enter inside of the cab's backseat and pertinently halts at the entrance of the cab.

'I wonder if it was meant for me to meet Audrey in the airport and help her to get here?' She curiously ponders to herself.

Audrey quickly whirls her head to the right and realizes that Hiromi had yet to enter the cab. She then asks her, "Are you getting in or not, Hiromi?"

Her question instantly snaps Hiromi out of whatever daze she was in as she apologizes to her once she slides in the cab.

The driver cranks up the engine of the cab and nimbly merges the vehicle in to the busy airport traffic.

Audrey cuts her eyes over to see Hiromi rests the back of her head against the seat of the taxi, when she calls out "Hiromi,"

She waits until the brunette rotates her head so that Audrey was in her line of vision, "Yes, what is it?"

"Do you feel good? You look a little pale." The blonde enquiringly inquires about the brunette girl's health.

"Oh…I'm fine just daydreaming a little." Hiromi lies to the blonde girl off to her left.

88888

"Takao," A masculine voice shouts his name from behind the shoji door that separates his bedroom from the hallway outside.

He did not verbally responds, which prompts the male who calls his name to slide the door to their left and steps inside.

Takao hears the person calls his name once again as he swivels his head in the direction of the noise and spots Kai in his room.

He then returned his vision back to the letter that was within his grasp that details the reason of Hiromi's abrupt departure from Japan to China.

"Training will resume tomorrow morning with the normal 5K before we work on skill sets." Kai informs the blue haired male in front of him.

The bluenette releases a deep sigh and replies with a simple "Fine".

"If you're late then you'll have to redo the 5K within eight minutes and repeat the workouts three times a piece. Do you understand?" He outlines the punishment for Takao if he was late.

He watches as the bluenette's shoulders heave up and down when he agrees to the potential punishments that were to follow if he was late for tomorrow's practice.

Kai opts to leave his friend to his personal thoughts once again while he prays that his strong blader's spirit outweighs what he feels at the current moment.

The sound of the shoji door snaps back in to place earns a look in the direction from Takao who registers that his slate haired friend was gone.

'Training will resume tomorrow morning with the normal 5K before we work on skill sets.' 'If you're late then you will have to redo the 5K within eight minutes and repeat the workouts three times a piece. Do you understand?'

He lifts his hand to his right arm, pops the lid of his beyholder open, withdraws his precious blade, and stares at it.

Takao tightly clutches the metallic object in his hand as if to force his thoughts and feelings on to his bit spirit.

A painful roar emitted from his blade, which signaled to him that he was not the only presence who was greatly impacted by Hiromi's absence.

8888

Hiromi and Ashley motor up to the main entrance of the Forbidden City prior to the taxi driver, who declares that they have arrive at their destination.

The pair properly thank and pay the taxi cab driver for his service after they unload their luggage onto the sidewalk from within the trunk.

"He was nice." Ashley sincerely comments as she hooks one of the straps of her book bag on her arm while Hiromi adjusts her duffle bag.

The brunette nods her head to show that she agrees with the blonde girl's statement about their polite cab driver.

A "psst" was overheard from along the sidewalk where an elderly man with a wooden table across his lap waved to as gesture for them to come over.

"I don't think we should…" Hiromi suggests right before Ashley drags her over to the man.

"How nice of you wonderful young ladies to entertain and grace this feeble old man with your presence? How about a little game?" The random man kindly greets them while he shuffles three cups around on the table's surface.

An interested Ashley whirled her head in Hiromi's direction and inquired, "Do you know what he's saying Hiromi?"

"He said that it was nice of us wonderful young ladies to talk to him even in his old age. He asks do you want to play a game." Hiromi translates for her American companion.

"What are you playing old man?" She wonders out loud while she points at the board on the man.

The old man appears to be in shock once Ashley asks her question as he breaks away from his current action to address her question.

Another "psst" catches Hiromi's attention this time so she casts her gaze toward the source of the noise and discovers someone in a burlap blanket.

A shaky hand emerges from the coat, points at Hiromi and wags her finger so she would approach her.

"You should warn your friend about that old man that she's talking to. He likes to play games that visitors' can't win in order to take their money." She advises Hiromi in a hoarse feminine tone once she stands in front of her.

"I've seen too many innocent people lose their pocket money to him." The woman includes as she jabs her thumb in the man's direction.

"His con is...he lets them win the first two games so they build up their confidence and bet their entire purse only to lose because he removes the dice at the last minute." The woman tediously explains the man's scam as they watch Audrey celebrate her second win against the old man.

The brunette immediately launches in to action after she observes her travel companion digs inside of her pocket where her money for the trip was.

"Uhm…I think we should really get going." She voices to both her friend and the con man as well.

''That's too bad because your friend is blessed with good fortune by Buddha himself. I'm sure that one more game wouldn't hurt her spirits." He slyly badgers with a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands upward.

Audrey faces the brunette and repeats the same thing that the man just said, "He's right! I'm on a winning spree."

"Give us one second please…" Hiromi physically tugs her off to the side so she can warn her about the con that he runs on people.

"Listen to me for a minute Audrey, that man behind us runs this scam on all of the innocent visitors who walk by here. He lets you win the first two games so you will bet everything you have on the third game only to lose in the end."

Audrey processes her warning and opts to heed the advice with a nod of her head to display she understands.

"Sorry, I won't be able to finish up this last game with you." She declares once she breaks away from Hiromi.

A visible frown was stretching across his face that he was so close to executing yet another successful scam on an unsuspecting visitor.

"Are you sure? I mean you can spare a few more seconds with this lonely old man can't you?"

"We really need to head to our destination so our friends will know that we are fine." Audrey skillfully lies to the older man as they swiftly venture to the entrance of the Forbidden City.

"Hold on a minute…" Hiromi abruptly broadcasts as she searches for her money in order to tip the older lady for her warning.

After she about faces, she searches for the woman in the burlap blanket but she vanishes from the sidewalk.

'Did I dream of that old lady? No, she was just here a few minutes ago.' Hiromi ponders to herself as she return the change to her pocket.

"What's wrong now?" Audrey quips at the brunette teen with her hands on her hips.

"Oh…it's nothing." "I thought I just dropped something valuable but I guess not." Hiromi retorts while she treks over to her blonde haired friend.

The dirty blonde shrugs her shoulders up and down at Hiromi's response to her current antics before they amble inside of the Forbidden City with luggage in tow.

8888

Grandpa was shuffling about the kitchen in order to start on lunch as well as preparing the ingredients for dinner as well.

"This is so much easier when I had help." He wearily huffs as he peers to his left where Hiromi would be poise while she moves about to collect the necessary materials.

'I guess I should get use to her not being here too.' Grandpa assumes before he shakes his head left and right and asserts, 'If Takao holds out on his faith then I should do the same thing.'

As a wave of sudden vigor washes over his body, he releases a sigh and focuses in on the task at hand.

8888

Kai finally appears in the living room, which catches Rei and Max's focus as their expressions read, "So how did it go?"

He takes a seat on the couch, rests his right arm against the arm of the chain, and claims, "As long as we can keep him busy with beyblading then it shouldn't be too hard to distract him."

The pair shakes their head in agreement before Max includes, "We do have to get ready for the next tournament in a couple of weeks."

Rei stretches out against the floor, leans forward, crosses his legs, rests his right elbow on his thigh, leans against his fist, and utters, "It is about that time again…"

"…to defend the world title." The blonde finishes Rei's statement with an evident excitement in his tone as he smiles at the comment.

Kai continues to listen in on the pair's conversation when Max presses a red button on the remote, which turns the television screen on.

A commercial ad broadcasts on the screen about the said topic of their conversation with images and videos from the last tournament. The time, date, and location of each round of the tournament displays on the screen as well.

DJ Jazz was the last face on the commercial as he encourages Japan to root for the hometown favorite and current champions, the Bladebreakers.

"I think the ad speaks for itself." Max chuckles at the video of themselves blading against one of their various foreign opponets.

"You can say that again." Kai was muttering underneath his breath while trying to relax to prevent an impending headache.

88888

author's note:

04.26.17 Major editing revisions