Chapter 9

The fog cleared and the winner was revealed: Kai. Dranzer was the one who was still spinning, although it staggered greatly. Kai picked up his Beyblade and walked towards the surprised group while Tala was falling down on his knees at the same time.

"Good work, Kai," Voltaire Hiwatari praised him, being the first who recovered his voice.

"This is all because of my special training," Boris said, but Kai could read in the man's eyes that he hadn't expected this outcome.

"Yeah," Kai retorted, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Hey, training isn't over yet!" Boris yelled after him.

"Then train this redhead over there," Kai replied without stopping his way towards the exit. Before he walked out he waved 'Good bye' without looking back. 'Shit! It was pure luck that Dranzer was the one who was still spinning,' he thought. 'I underestimated the boy. And I'm dead certain that he wasn't fighting with all his might. Well, I wasn't going all out either. Still … maybe I should take this whole Beyblade thing more serious.'

Sunday came without any more noteworthy occurrences. After his shower, Kai had stayed in his room and thought about his next steps, but he couldn't concentrate; a certain redhead was interrupting him every time, crossing his mind and looking at him with this ice-blue eyes that were full of the desire to crush him. He imagined seeing another feeling in those eyes, a feeling that promised something forbidden. Kai had to force himself to not think further about this person or else he would have gotten a hard-on. He tried to distract himself with a book and when that didn't work he decided to go to bed early and sleep.

Today was probably his last day in the abbey. Tomorrow he would fly with Voltaire Hiwatari to Japan. Kai had come to the decision that he would first focus on Hiwatari and, of course, he had to wait until the adoption was executed. He would live with the man in his mansion near a city called Iwakuni, a beautiful little town with a castle, a very famous bridge and the central office of Hiwatari Enterprises. There, far away from Ivanov's distracting son, he could think properly about a plan.

Kai had skipped breakfast, the morning training and lunch. He simply wasn't in the mood to endure Boris presence. 'I wonder if Hiwatari has finally told him about his intention to take me to Japan,' he asked himself while making his way to the training hall. He eventually decided to drop by and join the training with the Demolition Boys. Maybe he just wanted to take a look at his beautiful payment.

It was the room of yesterday's battle that he entered now. Boris and the Demolition Boys were there as he had expected, but something wasn't right. Ian and Spencer were in the middle of a match and Bryan and Tala were just taking their start positions. Something about Tala's motions was odd. They weren't as smooth as yesterday, it almost seemed like he was in pain.

Kai walked up to Boris who supervised the training. For a moment they just stood there side by side and then Kai saw it. The redhead's face was covered with bruises and his unsteady movements were caused by pain. He turned his head to look at the man next to him. There was only one reason why Tala was in this state: Boris or somebody else must have punished him, because he lost against him, a newbie. But Kai couldn't prove it, so, for now, he kept a straight face.

"Did the little princess decided to join commonality," Boris sneered, finally stopping to ignore the young boy beside him. "Mr. Hiwatari informed me that you'll leave us tomorrow."

"Are you angry because he didn't ask for your opinion?" Kai asked gloatingly.

"You still need training, lots of training," the elder replied. "That you won yesterday was because of pure luck not because you were better."

'If you know that why was Yuri punished?!' He had almost said it out loud, but instead he said, "It has nothing to do with Beyblading."

"Whatever," Boris sighed. "Get ready, you'll fight Ian next."

"No," Kai replied resolutely and turned to walk out, but he was held back by Boris who had grabbed him by his shoulder.

"No?! You dare to defy me!" Boris angry voice got louder, so that the Demolition Boys paused in their training and watched the two. "I said you'll fight Ian next."

"And I said no," Kai stated calmly. "I have an appointment. Now," he added.

"With Mr. Hiwatari?" Boris concluded and released Kai who continued his way towards the door.

"No, with my book," he said before exiting through the door and closed it behind him. He could hear Boris shouting "Damn little brat…" and had to smile. But his smile vanished soon, when he remembered the state Tala was in.

The evening came and Kai decided to take a shower instead of going to the dining hall and eating the awful dinner there. It was even more insipid than the food in the prison. He had used the afternoon to finish his latest book and after that, he had actually done some muscle training in the fitness room until a guard came who told him that Mr. Hiwatari wanted to see him.

The man was waiting in his office and they had a very brief talk about their journey tomorrow. At the end, the man gave Kai some clothes. "You can't walk around like that if you are with me, so put these on," he had said and Kai was dismissed.

After that, he went straight to the shower room that would be crowded when dinner was over. When all the sweat was washed away, he put on the clothes Voltaire Hiwatari had given him. He must admit that they fit perfectly and they didn't look bad either. They consisted of dark purple trousers and a matching tank top in the same color. The ensemble was completed by a short black jacket with red stripes on the sleeves and yellow buttons, a red belt with a silver belt buckle, a pair of black shoes with red stripes that matched the one from the jacket and fingerless black gloves. No clothes for the cold weather in Russia, but for the milder in Japan it was perfect.

Kai was standing in front of the door to his room when he saw Tala coming in his direction. "Hey!" he said, but the young male ignored him and walked past him without even glancing. Within a second Tala's back was pressed against the stone wall. The redhead struggled at first, but when he realized that he couldn't get away he calmed down.

"Let me go," Tala managed to say between clenched teeth.

Kai examined the bruised face of the other boy. He was sure that this wasn't the only part that was covered with bruises, but if Tala was in pain, due to the pressure of being pushed against the wall, he gave away nothing.

"What do you want?" Tala asked when Kai didn't reply.

Instead of answering, Kai ripped open Tala's jacket. "Hey!" The redhead protested, but was silenced when he felt cold air touching his bare stomach. Kai had lifted up his black T-shirt and was now looking at the bluish marks on the almost white skin. Tala was so baffled that he even forgot to wriggle out of the bluenette's loosening grip. For a moment he just stood there and watched the younger boy who eventually let go of him. Kai stepped back to allow Tala to adjust his clothes.

"Boris?" he asked, no emotions in his voice even though he was inwardly foaming with rage.

"None of your business," Tala said equally emotionless.

"Really?" Kai stepped forward again, bringing their heads closer. Tala was a little bigger than himself, so he had to look up a little to see him directly in the eyes, but that didn't do any harm to the intensity of his stare. Instead of backing off, the redhead returned the look, determined.

"Why do you care?" Tala's voice was calm.

"Why do you think I care?"

"Why do you want to know?" Tala asked and Kai was surprised how composed the other's voice sounded. Tala didn't break the eye contact, either, so, the bluenette was now the first to do this when his eyes wandered down to the pale pink lips.

'Kissable,' Kai thought, but instead he said, "I'm just curious." He looked up again into those intensive ice-blue eyes, but something was different from before. 'Does he know what I just thought? Whatever.' In a low voice he continued, "Why don't you fight back?"

When Tala didn't answer Kai stepped back again, out of the other's intimate space. Even though the redhead had showed no signs of tension he seemed to exhale. Finally, Tala spoke again, "Why should I do this? Fighting back means getting even harder punishment or you get thrown out."

This was the longest speech Kai had ever heard from Tala so far. He took his time to think carefully about it before he just shrugged. After another moment of silence he wanted to add something, but was detained by the sound of someone approaching.

Tala, who had heard it as well, pushed himself off the wall and continued his way as if nothing happened. Kai entered his room, a devilish smile on his face.

It was already past midnight when Boris exited his office. "This damn Kai," he muttered on the way to his bedroom, which was located one floor higher, "he skipped training again. Why does Voltaire take him to Japan? He presented me with a fait accompli. Usually he asks for my opinion, at least when it concerns the abbey. And this concerns the abbey. So why? This damn boy, who is he? Does Voltaire know more about him? But I checked his background … and found nothing. But how should Voltaire know more about Kai, things that I couldn't find out myself? Impossible. Did … no. Voltaire was never interested in one of the boys."

By the time Boris had reached his room, he had stopped muttering to himself, not a bit smarter than before. After he stepped inside, he wanted to lock the door, but was hindered by a cold sharp knife that somebody held to his throat.

"Don't," a voice whispered in his ear.

"Who are you?! What do you want?! I have done nothing!" Boris almost screamed, trying to get as much space between his throat and the knife as possible. Since it was totally dark in the room, he couldn't see his assailant, but the arm that had kept him covered until now was suddenly gone and the light flashed on. Kai was standing next to the door, grinning, but he couldn't see any knife in his hand.

"What?" Boris managed to say after his shock had faded a little. Though he was still shaking a bit and to hide this, he sat down on one of the cushioned chairs in his little realm.

Kai watched every of Boris movements with a calm calculating stare. Neither of them spoke for a while, a while in which Boris nervousness grew and Kai's grin widened.

"How did you come in here?" Boris finally managed to ask.

"Through the door," Kai answered and walked up to the sitting man.

"The door was locked, so how…"

"Was it?" Kai interrupted the man. Now that he stood before Boris, the man realized that he had made one of the greatest mistakes: sitting, while your opponent was standing and, because of this, Kai had the dominating position now. But when the man tried to stand up from the chair Kai stopped him with his hand and pushed him back down. "Remain seated," he said in a low voice that promised something terrible if it was flouted. Boris reluctantly obeyed and to his surprise the young boy seated himself on the older man's lap.

"What?" Boris mumbled puzzled.

"Schh." Kai silenced the man by putting his finger on Boris lips. "Don't speak, just listen," he whispered. "I'll be gone tomorrow, so this is the last chance I might get."

Boris swallowed audibly when a hand was placed over his crotch, squeezing lightly the sensitive part of his body. He closed his eyes and almost moaned Kai's name when he suddenly came to his right senses. Opening his eyes again he leapt up to his feet, just to be pulled back. During the short time he had indulged in his sexual fantasies, Kai had managed to pinion his arms to the chair with nylon stockings.

"Hey, untie me, you damn brat!" Boris struggled on his chair, but unfortunately Kai was stronger than he looked. It seemed that the young boy knew exactly where he had to press to render him immobile. "I'm your superior, you can't …" He was once more stopped by the knife that was suddenly back and pointed dangerously close to his left eye.

"Don't speak, listen," Kai clarified again. "I will now ask you some questions and if your answer is 'yes' you nod and for a 'no' you shake your head. Understood?"

Out of habit, Boris wanted to say 'yes'. He had already opened his mouth to speak, but recalled what Kai had said just in time and instead he nodded briefly.

"Good." The demoniacal smile in Kai's face vanished, but his eyes were still staring at the older man more viciously than ever before. "Did you punish Tala?"

A hesitant nod.

"Did you enjoy it? And don't even think about lying to me." Kai felt Boris heartbeat getting faster. He could see in the man's eyes that he was desperately searching for an explanation, that's why he added, "I don't want to hear any reasons or justifications, just nod or shake your head."

The knife wandered down to the older man's throat when he gave a short nod, almost indistinguishable.

"Don't worry. I won't punish you for having enjoyed it." Hearing this, Boris relaxed noticeable. Kai, who had noticed it as well added, "I didn't say that I won't punish you at all." Boris tension was back. It itched Kai to say what he thought about the man, but that was not the reason behind his little visit, so he continued, "I'll only say this once, so listen carefully: If you ever set your hands to Tala again, I will cut them off. If you ever kick him again, or step on him, I will amputate your legs, but not like a medic would do it. Scratch him and I will pull out each of your dirty finger nails, one after another. Bite him and your teeth will undergo the same treatment as your nails. Understood?!"

Boris, whose skin had gotten whiter with every word Kai had said, nodded frantically. He knew that the younger wasn't bluffing. Kai stood up from the man's lap, but before he untied the man he added in a perfect conversational tone, "Don't think just because I will be seven thousand kilometers away from here I won't notice anything. I will, so don't push your luck."

A brief nod. Kai seemed satisfied and cut the nylon stockings. Boris was free, but he remained seated. Kai walked up to the door, but before he exited the room he turned around one last time. "I recommend that you to watch the news the next couple of days."

Boris who was still in some kind of shock just nodded and watched the bluenette vanishing into the shadows of the dark tunnel, but the vicious expression in those light purple eyes and this evil smile chased him further through the whole night.

A/N: Since there wasn't any lemon in the last chapters, I'm thinking about adding some in the next. No Tala x Kai or Kai x Tala until now (but I hope you enjoyed the little talk they had) and since Kai is moving to Japan… Well, who knows what he's dreaming about? (Maybe, we'll know soon^^)