Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.

Me: .:Looks around suspiciously:. Sarah? What no witty demands? No outright threats? ….I think you scared her Kirsten…she did return my Kashi plushie though. .:Snuggles:.

There were many things Takao was prepared to go through when he had entered his mother's childhood village. For example he was expecting the ridicule or outright dislike he would be faced with from those that remembered his mother. After all she was exiled for a reason. While it was rare for nekojins to marry any one other than their mate, marriages were arranged for those that were believed to be mateless. Those that hadn't found a mate by their twenty fifth birthday were usually promised to each other and that was that. That was the case with his mother, but rather than marry the elder's son she had chosen to marry an outsider. If that wasn't enough to earn himself the villagers dislike and ire, he also had to put up with the fact that he was considered an outsider. So while he had know that he wouldn't be welcomed he was entirely caught off guard by the blatant hate rolling off his former opponents face.

"Takao."

"Ray."

Ray's amber eyes narrowed with anger. "What do you think you're playing at?"

"What?" Takao blinked with shock. "What d'ya mean? I just want this contract nullified."

"As if!" Ray snarled, pounding his fist on the low table they were kneeling before. "You must've thought this was pretty damn convenient huh? That we wouldn't think something was up? How dare you try to trap him like this!"

"Ray enough!" Mao cried as she pulled on her elder brother's arm. "I don't think he knows!"

"Knows what?" Takao asked as he looked between them, his eyes clearly showing his confusion.

"Shut it Kinomiya! As if you couldn't know! I just never thought you'd be so low as to do something like this!" Ray's eye's flashed angrily as his black hair puffed up like a cat's tail.

"Listen up bud! All I want is to have the daughter or son of Li Zhang Aiko annul this betrothal so I can marry Johnny! I don't know who you think I'm trying to trick but I have no intention of marrying anyone but Johnny! Get it through your thick skull!" Takao hissed in return, narrowing his own eyes, his body betraying his nekojin ancestry despite the herbs he used to suppress it. (1)

"Excuse us Takao!" Mao said frantically as she dragged her brother from the table and the room by his ear. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

"Mao!" Ray whined. "Why'd you have to do that? Now he won't respect me!"

Mao huffed as she paced in front of the bed she had pushed her brother on after she had dragged him up the stairs to his room. "Oh stop playing the big bad elder! I want to know why you're being so mean to him! He's our friend! Hell, I went to Max and Kai's wedding on behalf of the White Tigers because Rei was too damn stubborn to go himself! I even forgave Rei for not showing up at my wedding to Gao when Takao, Max, and Kai did! I have a hard enough time dealing with Rei when he's being an ass, don't you dare start yourself!" (2)

"But Mao-" Ray started whining again before his pink haired sister cut him off with a vicious gaze.

"Don't you but Mao me! I've had just about enough of your attitude mister! You know why Rei was betrothed to the second child of Shizuka's! Aiko-obasan knew things! (3) Things she shouldn't have been able to know! And you know Rei believes those stories that his mother told him, that the one she promised him to would be his one and only mate! Don't ruin this for him!"

Ray groaned as he flopped backwards. "Don't tell me you believe that load of shit! If it was that easy to find our mates, what was stopping Aiko-obasan from telling us our mate's names? Huh? And not only that, she only knew that Rei's supposed mate would be the son of her childhood friend! She didn't even bother to find out his father's name! It was just a fairytale that his kaasan told him Mao! There's no way Takao could be Rei's mate, it's way too easy!"

"Easy?" Mao hissed dangerously. "What makes you think that it's easy!" She roared loudly enough for Takao to hear all the way downstairs before breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself. Meanwhile her amber eyed brother was cowering under the bed in fear. "Takao's made it clear that he doesn't know who he's promised to, as well as the fact that he's marrying someone else. And after Rei dropped his friendship with them I doubt even Takao will be prepared to forgive him so easily. Takao's grown up a lot, while you'd know had you bothered to stay in touch with him as well!" (4)

Ray risked sticking his head out into the open. "Mao, you're talking like Takao really is Rei's mate! You need to accept the fact that he may not be! What then huh? The contract is legally binding for both of them, what happens if they're not mates and Takao decides marrying him isn't that bad an idea? What then?"

Mao flipped her long pink hair behind her shoulder and gave him a cocky smirk. "Oh don't worry about that! As soon as I heard what was going on I sent Kiki out to fetch Rei! Takao's lucky Rei had only left a few hours before he got here. That combined with how long you spent grilling Takao, he should be back, oh, right about now!" She squealed as the downstairs door slammed shut.

"Mao! I'm back! Kiki said you wanted to talk to me?" Rei's voice yelled from downstairs, gradually trailing off.

Mao smirk became even larger. "I guess Rei's seen our guest."

1. I think I mentioned something to this affect in the first chapter. It's a damn good suppressor…I'll be explaining that more in the next few chapters though.

2. Rei's such a jerk! Ray became the village elder because Rei's off traipsing around the world most of the time looking for his unsuspecting mate. Since he's so focused on finding his mate he hasn't had much time for his friends. Ever had friends you gradually grew apart from? That's sort of what happened here. And the Mao/Gao pairing? Ever since I saw Mao bossing him around I thought they'd look cute. If you complain I'm pairing Ray with Kiki.

3. Overdone, I know. I'm not saying she's a seer or a prophet or anything like that though. If you've ever known someone who was really perceptive that's what I was getting at. My Aunt knew I was going to start dating my boyfriend the day after I met him. And considering I was only 12 and he was only 14, and we were best friends for five years before we started dating that's saying something. Plus she didn't even live in the same province at the time. It happens people, I kid you not.

4. In my story Mao, and Takao stayed in touch. Not overly close but she probably knows more about Takao than all of her friends added together and multiplied by ten. It's true, people are really more interesting and deep the older they get.

A/N: Wow. This one was fun to write. Except for the Rei/Ray thing. I was tempted just to call Ray, Lee and save myself the headache. Anyways, my notes rambled on enough for one day, my thinking is pretty nonlinear at the moment. I need to get some sleep, but I promise I'll reply to my reviewers sometime tomorrow. Yeah…so if you liked it please review!

Next Chapter: Rei and Takao come face to face! And how will Rei react to the fact that his mate's been taking suppressor's for three quarter's of his life?