Title: Restless Nights

Author: Rhea R. Rin

Rating: T

Summary: Takao was a very good person; too good he ends up being chased, too good he ends up increasing the number of people that lived in his house, too good he ends up as a... MATCHMAKER!?

Warnings: Rabid bats can make you sick. Try not to swoon over when you read…I don't even know what this warning means.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its characters belong to Aoki Takao. Any non-canon characters found in this story are mine and are not to be touched. I write for the sole purpose of entertainment and definitely do not make any money with this.


Chapter 3: [Proximity]

While it hasn't been long since his arrival in the dojo – and he had quite grown used to the fact that the cold would forever haunt him – in the short duration of his stay, he had never anticipated a pitiless crash down of his already sinking reputation. If at all anything, the only thing that was gained in the process was the critical hit to his self-esteem, along with a cocky grin from the savage man (aka the irresponsible adult of the Kinomiya dojo).

His only saving grace was the unhinged chance of the denial of labour.

It just so happened that Kai's position as a highly welcomed VVIP guest was thrown down to the position of a lowly servant, an early surprise gift from the originally unconcerned Hitoshi. With crude regards, he supposed the only way to get back to position was a change in time—it was an ordained misery that time machines weren't invented yet.

Bit beast-capturing machines, digital beasts and advanced beyblade mechanics; he wished scientists would defer to creating something useful rather than wasting time on things that could drive the user crazy.

In that brain-seizing agony, he found himself with a vase in one hand and a cloth in the other, cleaning the curved face of the overly polished vase with an expression that could, undeniably, kill the meek-hearted. He wasn't amused. He wasn't overjoyed either. At the very least, all he could offer was a message to those who were going to jump into his visible range; retreat. Live a longer life.

And he would, more or less, jump at the chance to get revenge on the blunette. It was somewhat, a sort of, a win-lose situation; wherein he was the one who always got the short end of the stick. Concluding it with a perturbed sigh, he seriously wished for a change in dynamics.

A disobedient swirl at the pit of his stomach; he had been setting the vase back when the violet gaze fixed itself behind. At the other side, someone was knocking on the door.

With that unwanted disruption of his monologue, Kai strode up unwillingly. There were a few more knocks, the sound of someone's scrambling feet and the inaudible chirrup of the nearby birds; before the door was opened and a fresh cycle of frosty air welcomed themselves in. If at all anything, he was disgraced that his mortal enemy had come back to stretch out his suffering. Screw it.

He went back to blatantly staring – or in Takao's dictionary 'glaring'- at the unfortunate boy who brought about the whole problem. This boy, about a few years older than himself, stood at the entrance, disinclined hands holding a file off-handedly. A shabby head, a bright red jumper and a freckled face. The one who was stood at the door looked positively average.

"Is this where…," he paused, taking in the moment to steal a glance at the file, atop which Kai spotted the stamp of the local library, "Kinomiya Takao lives?"

Kai peered over. In the background, he could hear the hard rumbling of feet on the stairs, added with Takao's absolute clumsiness by falling down the stairs ungracefully. A few seconds later and the man of the said action was a part of their vicinity, leaving the stranger's question rhetorical.

Kai raised an eyebrow when Takao shot him a guilty smile. While it was confirmed that Takao was probably the world's biggest clown, there wasn't proof that Kai was, in any way, inclined to such antics. Kai wasn't pleased, but if he had to consider the events that had led upto here; or the events that had happened this morning, he had a rising feeling that the next couple of weeks were not going to be in his favour either.

But by and large, many of the things that happened never made him feel better or pleased.

Everyone and everything had perhaps devised a plan to be total fools before him, unintentionally or intentionally.

Deciding not to think much of it, Kai left them at that, mind wandering at his distaste for anything that relates to a lack of common sense. He shrugged, mainly because it was now confirmed that it wasn't anything to be troubled over.

It was Takao they were talking about. It would be fine.

No, it wouldn't.

He should've known. He should've known that because it was Takao they were talking about; anything could happen.

Anything usually meant another strange day in the already unstable dojo.

Having said that, here he was, living through the 'another strange day' in the dojo; an honest truth in the sentence being that strange days had become a common occurrence in his life long before. Should he pointedly remind of the little nuances that revolved around a boy named Takao, sometimes called Taka for short? But he tarried in the silence curtly, a moment of hush and calm to take in the situation at hand.

Takao was staring up at the ceiling listlessly, like a haggard dog that suddenly went limp. Mind deep in his musings, tangled strands of hairs sticking awkwardly, he asked. Largely to himself because he hadn't considered that ninja-like stealth skills existed in this period, especially not in Kai. "Should I be a moneylender?" I'm broke.

"Tell me a sane person who'd lend money from a youngster." Kai's answer had brought Takao to reality with a sharp jolt, the painful result of being ignorant of stealth beyond level hundred. However, the message was clear. Get over it.

Takao's gaze shifted to Kai. I'm still broke.

"Maybe, I should start writing a novel," his fingers twitched, mind calculating something, "Those hairy bunnies would probably fetch a million. If that doesn't do… I still have those lion skulls."

"Are hairy bunnies and lion skulls a part of your novel?" For once, Kai looked bemused, and definitely affronted with the idea.

"Well… It's horror." Takao chose to ignore Kai's 'look' and proceeded to bring a bone from underneath. He waved it pleasurably, the evocative object, for all the world to see. "I kept this for research but it isn't doing any good."

Without much to comment then, and absurdity of the situation taking a rather heavy toll on him, Kai had left before he too, would be affected by the blatant incoherency.

Idiocy can be contagious at times.

"He's still waiting," Kai acknowledged as he passed the news over to Takao, who let out a morbid, heavy breath.

It was late afternoon; the sun had sunk down the horizon, leaving valleys of its orange parting gifts shining through the glasses and casting the red afternoon glow everywhere. Among these hues of vermillion, stood the same boy at the same place, still clad in his loyal red jumper. And as each day passed, the displeasure in his face grew, equivalent to the face of an employee working overtime. And if that last sentence was anywhere close to being true, it was in Takao's best interests to settle whatever deal they had between them as soon as possible.

It was a continuing process. The boy would come here every two days or so, faithfully sticking to his timetable, his frown permanently glued to his face with each passing day. Takao would flash that guilty smile; an error brought out from the result of him hiding his helplessness (and miserably failing). But hey, Takao did try to cast a joke once in a while, vague attempts at lightening that ever present mar of disagreement that reverberated between the two. But the librarian's right hand man was more serious than all of Neoborg combined.

"Does it have anything to do with money?" Hitoshi had once asked, "Don't tell me you're being exploited."

"Aye, no," Takao waved honestly, "I happened to destroy public property…unintentionally."

"A fine?" His brother wasn't anywhere close to happy with it.

Takao nodded sheepishly. But was it really his fault? He had tried to cover up the damages as much as he could. Even went to great lengths to get the job done. If he had to be honest about it, very, very honest about it, he would blame the librarian.

Why? The librarian had, merely for the heinous reason as to add to his long list of misfortunes, brought out her ultra-super deluxe glasses that day. This was the plot-organized glasses that could spot even the tiniest of clues; it was a shame that she wasn't part of the detective squad. Instead, she had opted to read books and sit it out in the library and possibly foil any plan Takao could ever come up with. The god of strategy wasn't siding with him anymore.

He felt particularly lonely without him.

And completely broke.

~•••~

Kai was of the opinion that there was nothing worse than having mayo spread over his noodles — which was confirmed after a short visit to Max's — but supposedly, having an open window at the dead of night, during the very heart of winter was pure evil. Utterly savage. And totally uninhabitable. In retrospect, Hitoshi probably spent nights in the most squalid of places.

But once again, Hitoshi wasn't getting any sympathy from him. He was still bitter about what happened this morning.

That, and his sympathy was usually reserved for none.

With a sharp thrust from him, he closed the object of concern shut. Light weaved in from the garish curtains, dimly illuminating a frame of faded glow at the wooden floor. It merged within the room deftly and between these borders of bright and shine, Kai was able to spot the mahogany eyes eyeing him blankly. For a strange reason, he deemed that this was a warning conjecture from the otherwise unsupervised. Or it could be that staring oddly was a hereditary trait that ran in Kinomiya's bloodline.

He slid in to the bed, the sound of the sheets shuffling being the next thing that followed him. His foot barely hemmed the edge of the footrest. His head was too close to the headboard. He could feel Kinomiya's breath over his neck. The overall assumption included the bed being too small to occupy. Adding to the continuous atrocity, at the other side of the same shelter lay another presence, trying to fit in the cascading scenario. It was Takao. Or he supposed it was, partly because waking up to see a complete stranger in the same bed grinning up at him would be downright bizarre.

A small 'ouch' resounded from his right and he searched, barely in time to notice the intruder – or Takao, as he wished to believe – at the edge of the bed, in the verge of falling off. Kai nearly groaned at his condition.

An arm snaked through, a hand reached out to wrap his, then proceeding to tug him lightly.

Kai pored over through his shoulder. Tethering to the edges, Hitoshi had adjusted himself to the corners for more space. He sent him a look, hushed tones making the point clear. Giving in with a wordless approval, Kai followed suit.

"That's much better," Takao remarked as he wrapped himself in the blanketed layers. He flashed Kai a wry smile, clearly apologizing for the current mishap. But as the intended recipient remained quiet, silence loomed as the only answer.

A few minutes passed by in likewise stillness, droning out the entirety of the room into motionless silence. Kai could tell Takao wasn't asleep yet—the parade of snores that had initially driven him out was certainly missing. Kai's ears pricked at any sense of movement. Eyes zoned into anything estrange. His senses were still wide awake, registering every movement of the curtains, every moment the light dimmed and every round of the soft breath from the older Kinomiya hit over his overheating nape. He tensed, discomfort pronounced heavily in his build. He desperately tried to force relaxation as he counted the numbers.

Even before he knew it, he heaved in deeply and loudly.

There was a slight disturbance from behind. He could hear the person behind him budge slightly, inducing a strange gist of embarrassment all over. A wave of nervousness hit him. This was one of the shortcomings to sharing space. At times like these, he became too wary of his surroundings. It made him feel as if he were being constantly surveilled. And it drove him restless.

He bound his hands close to prevent it from fidgeting.

He couldn't say for sure, but he felt Takao's eyes on him, as if asking on his odd reaction to the situation. The tendency to laugh at the situation wryly was certainly preposterous.

"Why so silent?" Takao queried, and Kai could've almost kissed him right then and there. Steeling himself, he in turn shifted to muttering an 'idiot' under his breath.

"It's eleven?" The voice that answered was slightly raspy, supplemented with a twinge of hesitation. Hitoshi didn't seem too pleased to carry on with the conversation.

Takao pondered for a while. "It's still very quiet. Where are the birds? Or bats?"

"Bats?" Hitoshi's voice had a hinted surprise in it. Kai could follow; he wasn't sure how he would react if a bat happened to live in his quarters. "Do you hear bats from your room?"

"…no," he admitted, forehead creased in thought. At this, Kai couldn't tell if Takao was doing this for him or just throwing in things for conversation. "But there was this alarm clock that cried like a bat…"

He could see Takao squirming slightly, eyes turning over for any semblance of understanding from his brother. What returned was a long pause in conversation that Kai had to resist the urge to look behind.

"…err, it could have been something else. I just thought it was a bat…"

Weight shifted behind Kai and he was able to make out Hitoshi's silhouette as the other peered over, confusion etched in his face.

"…it had a strange sound," Takao's tongue clicked. He was growing more and more frustrated with each passing second. He looked around, sometimes turning to face past Kai (which made Kai wonder why he was even between the two). "Forget it." With one final tug of his blankets, Takao pulled it over his head, refusing to think that his consciousness still lied in reality. "I'm sleeping!"

Kai felt the mattress sink behind him; indicating that Hitoshi was settling back to the covers. He breathed in deep, preparing himself for another onslaught of the petulantly warm air. Hitoshi whispered something incoherent, and the next thing Kai knew, Hitoshi's nose was at the back of his neck, almost nuzzling. Kai shuddered involuntarily. Traces of sweat could be felt as he tried steadying his breathing, forcefully long exhalations to counter anything that could be seen. He laid there; utterly tense, down to his very bones, and clenched his fists, attempting to soothe his racing heart.

He couldn't let go of the feeling that they were essentially spooning.


Chapter 4: [Big]