Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade
Sarah: But you promised!
Me: I've been busy!
Sarah: But I want REI!
Me: Too damn bad!
Sarah: You're so mean! .:Sniff:. So when will he appear again?
Me: Either the next one or the one right after. I haven't finished writing them yet, so I have no idea which one he'll be in.
Sarah: He better be in one of them.
Me: Whatever. Anyways a big thanks to: Kitai Shinsei, Saphira's Ember, Firehedgehog, Capricia, NeKon-san, iamkagomeiloveinuyash, for reviewing! I really appreciate it guys!
The afternoon sun spilt through the large bay windows in the Hiwatari's(1) kitchen, bathing the blonde and bluenette in warm sunlight as they sat next to each other at the small table. The blonde seemed frozen, his teacup overflowing as his mouth moved without any sound emerging while his friend watched in annoyance.
"Max, I don't think your table needs a tea bath," Takao said dryly. "Snap out of it buddy."
Max shrieked as the puddle of hot tea reached his unoccupied hand, snapping him out of his stupor. "You're engaged! Why didn't you ever tell me! I thought I was your best friend!"
Stormy blue eyes closed wearily. He so did not need this stress right now. "Max, I didn't even know I was betrothed! It's a little different than being engaged…I think. I mean betrothing is what happens when your parents get involved. Engagement happens to be a choice…at least that's what I think. And I've chosen Johnny. Now all I've got to do is break the betrothal before Johnny finds out and kills the poor sap."
"Still," Max fussed as he wiped up the spilt tea from the table and retrived a new teacup. "I can't believe your mom would be so…careless as to promise you to someone when you don't even know their name. It just seems so backwards. No offense or anything but I thought your mom would have more sense than that. Isn't that similar to what the villlage elders wanted to do with her?"
"Yeah," the retired world champion sighed. "Apparently it is."
Max blinked as he thought of the tricky situation his friend was in. "You're not going to be in trouble or anything are you?"
"What d'ya mean?"
The blonde paused delicately, worry overtaking his features. "Well…it's just that your mom was exiled, ne? If so, won't you be in trouble if you just show up out of the blue? The village elders can't throw you into their version of jail or anything like that can they?"
Takao grinned at the young man. Even after all these years he was still fussing over him. He must have been a mother hen in a past life or something. "Relax Maxie. After the enlightening phone call to I read Kaa-san's diary again. There was a lot of stuff I missed when I was younger. It said that if anyone ever needed to go there for either Hitoshi or myself that we would be exempt from their laws. So long as we don't do anything bad, like kill someone. Which is why I'm keeping Johhny away," he said with a bright smile. "It'll take awhile but when I get back I'll be free to marry him, and it'll pretty much be smooth sailing from there."
"Takao," Max started with a mischievous grin, his eyes twinkling wildly. "How exactly are you going to distract Johnny for the three weeks it'll take you to deal with this? He can barely go a day without hearing your voice," he teased.
The bluenette blushed in embarrasment."Well…y'see…IkindacalledRobertandhesaidhewould-helpkeephimoutofmywayandso-"
Max cut him off with a loud laugh. "Whoa there Takao. Slow down. All I heard was that you called someone."
Takao started tracing patterns idly on the table with his finger, not meeting his friends eyes. "Well…I called Robert. He of course found the whole thing terribly amusing. He laughed his ass off for half an hour before I could get a coherent word from him. So after his laugh fest he said that he'd take care of it. Said he'd take him to some temple or something for meditation. How he got him to agree I'll never know, cause apparently there isn't any technology allowed. No phones, no computers, no nothing. Which works out great for me because my cell phone probably won't be able to work all the way out there," he said with a shudder. "And I can just imagine his reaction at seeing me call from an unfamiliar number, it'd peek his curiosity and make him investigate. Then he'd find out and kill the guy or girl. So yeah…"
"Hmmm…y'know that may not work out as well as you think. Knowing him he'll probably sneak a cell phone in to keep in touch with you," Max stated as he poured them more tea. "Why don't you tell him that since he's going on a retreat that your Gramps decided to send you on one as well?"
"Yeah, that could work," Takao said brightly before deflating. "But I don't really want to lie to him anymore than I have to."
"Well you've already gone this far. What's a little more to save a life?"
"Yeah. Guess I'll have to. Hopefully Johnny won't take it too badly after it's dealt with."
"I'm sure he'll be okay," Max comforted. "He really loves you, he might however get even more possessive of you afterwards…"
Takao paled. "Haha, maybe I should rethink this plan."
"No! It'll work out fine, I'm sure-"
"Max! I'm home!"
"Kai! You're back! Me and Takao are in the kitchen."
Kai came strolling into the kitchen, rolling up his shirtsleeves as he went before stopping in front of Max to give him a sweet kiss. "Missed you."
Max brightened as Takao smiled at the sappy sight the two made. "Missed you too."
Kai nodded to his younger friend as he grabbed himself a teacup. "Takao. What's going on? You sounded pretty frantic when you left the message for us."
Takao groaned as Max started snickering. "You better sit down Kai. It's a long story."
"Takao maybe you should put this off until spring, if it snows you'll be stuck there until it clears up," Kai said as his friend bent down to put his shoes on.
"Oh, come on Kai! It's not even October yet! We won't be getting any snow until November at least," Takao said, brushing off his concerns. "Anyways, it's been real. I've gotta go if I'm gonna get any rest before my flight. Night guys! See ya when I get back!" Takao yelled over his shoulder as he left his friends house.
"Hmmm, poor Taka," Max mumbled as he lent back into his husband's embrace as he watched the bluenette drive off.
Kai stopped nuzzling his neck and rested his head on top of Max's blond hair. "I notice that you didn't bother telling him."
"Didn't bother to tell him what?"
Kai turned him around in his arms and looked down at him in mild anger and annoyance. "That according to Rei the only Li Zhang's(2) that lived in the village of nekojins were Rei's mother and grandmother. And that they both died years ago. So that means the only one he could be betrothed to is Rei."
Max winced. "I…I think this'll be good for him Kai. You know he doesn't really love Johnny."
"Johnny knows that Takao doesn't love him, not the way he does. He's fine with it. Takao's fine with it. As much as I dislike the Scot, they make a good match," Kai said harshly before softening his voice. "Look Max, I just don't want Takao hurt like that again. He was fine with Rei not returning his feelings but when he ignored our letters and stopped replying it really hurt him. And now we've just sent him off to get his heart broken again, without any warning! We need to tell him!"
Max bit his lip uncertainly. "No. I can't believe that this is a coincidence. That it's all just some cosmic joke that those two keep getting thrown together. They're meant to be together Kai! Once they see each other again and have a chance to talk they'll work something out. I just know it!"
Kai sighed heavily. "I hope you're right Max. For Takao's sake I hope you're right."
1. How this came to be will be explained in the future chapters. And no I didn't just put them together so they wouldn't be alone. I actually developed a plot for it! And when Rei pulls his head out of his ass he'll be in big trouble with Maxie for not attending their wedding…
2. I pulled this name out of the blue. It's an actual Chinese surname, which took me forever to find because my internet connection decided to break down today. I have no idea what Rei's mother's maiden name is so don't ask.