The Ghost Bird of Russia : Saving Kai
By - R'soriginalusername
For – Droplets of blue rain(hope you like it)
The Vermilion bird of Fire, they said that wounded by the evils of the world she flew to the frozen tundra of Russia. Hoping, the cold of winter will prevent her from resurrecting from her ashes and thus saving her from the suffering. Her ashes laid in the temple, buried within the heart of the wasteland, where no one can find it. At least that was the intention. Little does she knows that the greedy hands of humanity won't left a stone unturned.
Hillary Tachibana, an archeologist who led the expedition team for the search of the golden feather. A priceless artifact that was lost in this frozen hell. The golden feather was both a curse and a cure. But for Hillary it was the last hope. They called her a fool and told her she was leading them to an untimely death, they didn't deserve. So, it wasn't a surprise when the team ditched them in the middle of a snowstorm and ran back with their tail between their legs, they had nothing to gain from it. It was her fight and her only.
But despite the supposed effect that were forewarned to her, he was doing fine. In fact if it weren't for him. She'd be crying herself to death. They were cooped up in a cave they dug in the snow. Pressed against each other, salvaging any kind of warmth that was left. If she tried hard and closed her eyes, even with the howls of the winds, she could hear his heart beating. It soothed her nerves to know, she hadn't lost him. Not yet.
"Why are we here?" He asked.
"There is a storm outside." She said, she felt her stomach drop.
"Yeah, but we had to catch, the plane. Old-man asked us to come to the seminar didn't he?" He sounded confused like he didn't trusted himself.
Hillary lifted her head to look up at him, it was useless because of the dark. But she imagined her face reflecting on his burgundy eyes, the very first thing she fell in love with. Their warm breaths tickled the sensitive skin of their faces. It had started. It means they were close.
She took a calming breathe, the queasiness in her body increasing every second. "Kai, we attended the seminar months ago. Don't you remember?"
"What are you talking about- Did we?" He struggled with his words, his pride wanted to be stubborn with his word but, there were blanks in the memory and in the end he only pulled her close to her body.
"We attended the seminar, and after that you went to talk with your grandfather. We decided to stay in Russia for a few more months and tour the place. But suddenly you fell sick. I proposed a mission. An expedition to find cure-"
"In a frozen dessert?"
"Yeah. Don't you believe me?"
"It's just too farfetched."
"I know, but it is the truth." Her Kai never doubted her. It took her a lot of time to gain his trust, it will take a lot to do that all over again and she didn't think she had it in her. But she will do it for him. For the kindness he had for her, even if it might vanish.
"Hn"
She laughed making him jump, " what the hell?"
"It had been a long time since you did that." She mimicked his voice, "Hn"
"My voice sounds nothing like that." He scoffed but couldn't hide the chuckle that escaped his lips.
"You wish."
"I know, it's the truth after all. Isn't it?"
Oh well
When storm settled and sun peeked from the horizon, they started walking. Soon the temple was in the sight. It was huge, half drowned in the ground and snow. The visible part was like the sketches, she was provided with. But if the research was true, there are traps here and so far no living survivors lived to tell the tale. How did the information survived, no one knows. When it was close enough to touch, she sampled the wall, it was gold, real yet corroded, but gold nonetheless.
She packed her things away and tightened the strap. It was show tim-
Someone pulled her from behind. She was on the ground trapped beneath Kai. Her wrist pinned on either side of her face with his much larger hands.
"Kai! It's me Hillary. Don't you remember me?" She screamed with all her might, like it will magically make the situation better.
"Hillary?" He brought his face closer to her, than some recognition shone in his clod eyes and he removed himself from her.
She didn't waste a second crawling away and standing on her feet. She pulled out a taser from her bag, obscuring the action by patting her clothes. She needed to test the ground. "You gave me a freaking heart attack."
"I thought i-" He looked at the snow, trying to understand the reason behind his own action, "Why are you here?"
"It should be why are we here?"
"We came here together?"
"We did Kai. To complete the expedition, our teammates didn't last. It was just two of us."
"But we were in Tokyo," he ran a hand through his face and crouched on the ground, "Where is this place?"
"What were we doing in Tokyo?"
He stared at her blankly.
Hillary's shoulders slumped, "I need to know, what you remembered?"
"I was asked to bring a partner, it was a social gathering in Osaka."
She smiled serenely, "It was a year ago, Kai."
"Nonsense, I remember it? I do?" Flabbergasted, he let himself drop on the ground.
"It was one of the most beautiful moment of my life, the venue was like a castle. My mother bought a beautiful Cinderella gown. In all honesty I felt like princess there."
"But we never got there?" He furrowed his brows.
"We did and you know what made it even more especial. We weren't prince and princess anymore. You asked me spend my whole with you-"
"And I'm supposed to believe that?" He spat, even if he wanted to ask her that. He didn't remember the event Hillary was recalling.
Hilary took off the glove from her right hand showing off the engagement ring, white gold studded with diamond. She sat down beside him and held out her pen palm. Kai frowned at the action but complied. The brunette removed his glove revealing a matching piece in different design. He contained his surprise but his eyes were glued to the rings.
"Yours was made afterwards, I chose a matching design," she grinned at his disbelief.
"This is surreal," he said and held face between his palms. "You're not lying, right?" He breathed heavily, searching her eyes for truth. Her eyes glossed unshed tears.
"I'm not."
His lips brushed her forehead, "I believe you." She pulled him down, capturing his lips with her own in a heated kiss and pulled away, "we have business to finish."
They looked at the half sunken structure. The Temple of Suzaku, the vermilion bird, the red phoenix of the south. It was daring them to come in.
"Kai, we have to stay together. It is full of traps."
"Let's see."
They'd barely dodged getting squashed under a huge rolling rock and already the corridors are full of chasing vines like what the fuck. It was like the place wanted to kill them. Which is okay Hillary knew that, but now if felt like she'd lost Kai. Running with all her might she burst through a door and fell on the floor, her heart dropped. But the vines stopped at the door for some reason. She sighed in relief and stood up slowly and found out the cause of the vines stopping.
It was rock gnome; it looked like a robot from mecha anime only made of rock. Its round face had a crown of vies and two red eyes. It was holding a sword a gleaming metal sword. Hillary gulped; she had no desire to be slashed by that thing. Suddenly, she was glad Kai was not here. She barely moved to run, when it was above her ready to dice her like a vegetable. Dodging reflexively, she watched as the sword went through the floor, cutting the stone slabs like butter.
The room looked like an armory with empty sword cases and half-full armors in display, with her luck this gnome is the only sentient one. The hall looked oddly wide ad there was the classic Chandelier hanging overhead. She zigzagged between the stands and the racks, with the gnome juggernauting through all of it. Hoping he will fail to notice her, she hid inside one of the rack. But the Gnome ran through it, kicking the rack like a football with her inside.
It slammed to another nearby rack, sandwiching her in between. Blood gushed from her mouth and she felt a sting on her collar bone but she didn't let a sound escape her lips. Tears well in her eyes and with great difficulty she crawled out of the rubble. The gnome was busy destroying the room in search for her, that he didn't notice her. Hillary bumped into hard-wire that was connected to the pulley holding chandelier in place.
A burst of adrenaline hit her; with gnome distracted she had enough time to pull out a grenade from her bag. She taped it to hard-wire.
"Okay Hillary, you can do it." She took a deep breath, "HEY! YOU STUPID ROCK MONSTER! CATCH ME!"
The gnome turned to her slowly, her heart jumped in her ribs she pulled out the ring from grenade and dashed across the room. "Please work, oh god. Holy shit," the gnome followed her, its steps echoing through the room.
The grenade went off, the sudden impact made Hillary wobble. If she didn't hurry she might get smited into the ground. The rustle of the chain followed and the Chandelier creaked. In the middle of the run, she dared to look up. It was falling. She ran with all her might.
She escaped it by hair's length, the crash throwing her further away. But the gnome was not that lucky. It was stuck underneath the massive metal construct, flailing like a fish. Its sword inched away from Hillary's body, she scampered further away, quickly pulling out another grenade and rolling it toward the gnome and covering her ears. Another blow of hot wind told her that the deed was done.
She pulled her knees together, hugging herself tightly. Until the thought of Kai crossed her mind, she opened her eyes hastily trying to stand up, until another sword was pointed at her face. She almost fell back until she saw the person holding it.
"Kai?"
The Hiwatari heir narrowed his eyes at her, "Tachibana, what the hell is going on?"
"Excuse you, since when- Okay, it is really happening." She rubbed her face and said, "what do you remember?"
"That is not an answer." He threatened her with the sword.
"Woah hey, that's sharp." She screamed moving away.
"That is the idea,"
"But I need to know that to explain properly," upon seeing his frown she said, "look you are wondering how you got here. And you believe you were somewhere else a moment ago, you don't trust your brain-"
"you're saying I'm crazy!"
"No! But there are gaps in your memory and you know something is missing. So to tell you that Kai-" Hillary cried in shock.
As Kai's eyes rolled and he fell to his knees. The sword clanked on the ground. She rushed to his side and held him in her arms. Suddenly, the temple started to shake violently. She clutched his body tightly, if they're going to die, it might as well be together. The ground sunk low. Hillary closed her eyes and buried her face in the crook of Kai's neck.
The ground stopped shaking and much to Hillary's surprise they were alive. She rubbed her wet eyes and examined the area. It was like the ground was elevator and now they were on different floor. This place was much like the temple, she heard about. The walls were crimson and gold and there was an altar, where slept the Vermilion bird.
Flashback:
"If you got too close, you'll be burned alive. There will be no ashes." He had said.
"You're setting us up to die," Hillary was livid, she was shaking with anger.
Voltaire scoffed, "whatever made you think that?"
"You were the one who did it? He was like this ever since that night with you. I should have never let him go alone." Only she knew, how her heart breaks every time Kai forgets about them. About her. Little by little. Will he forget that he loved me?
Voltaire slammed the table and stood up to tower over the brunette, "and what would you have done?"
"He is your grands-"
"Nothing! There was nothing you could've done. You think I wanted this to happen. It was you! Your selfishness to keep him all to himself."
"This is a lie!"
"The moment he finished putting down Black Dranzer, he was cursed, Because-'
"SHUT UP!"
"Don't you dare take that tone with me! This is the last way and I might as well lose my grandson trying"
But she can't and she won't. Or will she?
There she slept peacefully, a tear. A single tear. That was all I need. Kai stirred and opened his eyes blearily. He regained focus and sat up.
"Tachibana?"
"Hey,"
"You're crying."
She nodded, holding her face in her hands. A hand patted her back soothingly, "What happened?
She shook her head. The hand stayed there, letting the warmth of his hand seep into her. She mustered enough courage to glance at him. There he was slipping between looking cool and looking worried. She knew this Kai. This was the Kai that'd started the story.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For sticking up to me, when everyone thought I was useless to the team."
"That schedule worked, back to basics," He gave her a hesitant smile.
She smiled and she was on the verge of breaking down. But she was too happy to recognize the memories Kai probably hold.
"Yeah but that's not all," she sniffed loudly, "there are a lot of things that happened."
"But-"
"No listen to me, please. I, We became," she rubbed her eyes, "we spend a lot of time together, and we l- were kind to each other and I- I loved you Kai, I really do and you said you do too,"
He removed his hand from her and backed away, like he had been burned. She moved toward him but he stepped out of grasp. "What are you talking about? It never happened."
"Kai?"
"Listen Tachibana, whatever weird fever dream you had of me. It never happened. You need help."
She knew it would happen, the more closer he will get to being saved. The more he will forget (about her). Hillary sobbed, loudly. She didn't care if she was pathetic but it was too much for heart to handle.
There was a thump.
She stopped and wiped her tears for the nth time, Kai had fallen on the ground. He was losing more memories! She had to do something fast. But what should she do!
She heard loud footsteps behind her.
What have you gotten yourself into, Old friend?
An amused voice said. Hillary's eyes grew to the size of sockets when she realized that voice was in her head. She felt an overbearing heat behind her and shivers went up her spine.
A huge golden ball of fire fell on Kai.
"Kai, No!" But it was too late, and everything turned white.
Thank you for bringing him here, it was good to see him again.
When Hillary woke up, it was in a hut of sort. Except it was filled with animal skin and fur. She remembered it. It was the home of the tribe people, where stayed in the beginning of expedition. She jolted up in the bed, she and the same clothes, the bag? There was the bag laying on the floor. She checked the content everything was there. Kai? She went outside and greeted the tribes people, thanking them to keep them safe. They waved her off but told her that the two of them were laying on their doorstep. It was miracle that they were alive.
She was brought to the place where Kai was talking to a shepherd. She couldn't describe how happy she was to see him alive. She sprinted toward him but stopped as she got close. They stopped talking to regard her. The Shepherd left them alone.
"Hey," she smiled warily.
"Hello, do I know you?
"Yes, I was sent to take you back home." She felt like a hole was getting bigger her chest. There was a weird emptiness that was building.
"Oh, than how do we go back?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"We had set up a research camp in the north. It is close to the road, we'll be home in no time." She folded her arm behind her back and nodded.
"I hope you know what you're doing?"
"I do, " She held her head high.
"I appreciate your help, Miss," He bowed in familiar Japanese greetings.
"Hilary, Hilary Tachibana,"
"It is a beautiful name."
"Thank you," She turned away from him. And then he left her.
What was the plot thee ask? Well sike children, everything is a lie.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Apologies for cringe romance scenes. I know I'm not good at that but I am hoping that practice will improved *cough* *cough* *wheeze* Btw Hillary didn't bomb the gnome right away cause he was fast and you need accuracy. So yeah, and Kai's curse caused him to lose memories and eventually die the cure was phoenix tear because Hari Putter. The golden feather was a cover for people to help them. Idk how to integrate that into story. :P
UNIMPORTANT NOTE: Okay I know that sacred beasts are derived from Chinese mythology and Kai is Japanese. That being said, I have a head canon that the Hiwatari Enterprises (Weapon company of Voltaire) is an MNC and have two HQ one in Japan and other in Russia, which explains Voltaire's interference in the Balkov abbey (first season is the best). The temple is imaginary, and so is the plot which I own obviously.
I do not own Beyblade. If I did, the chapterswill be reedited so many times. That the fandom would have died from mind fuck.
This was an experience. I enjoyed it by the way. Do tell me what you guys think.