Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I'll get over it.
Sarah: .:Bluntly:. You look like crap.
Me: Thanks. You're giving me the warm fuzzies.
Sarah: Maybe you should take a break?
Me: Love to. But they'd kill me if I did.
Sarah: Who?
Me: .:Points to the computer screen:. Them. The last one just threatened to send minions.
A/N: I updated. No more threats please. I'm a busy, busy girl. You want to know how busy? I go to school full time. I work 30-35 hours a week now. I'm responsible for cleaning, cooking, shopping, and babysitting. So when I do have time off my friends and boyfriend steal me away. I also have around four other stories I'm working on right now. On that note, thank you to everyone who reviewed and waited patiently. I appreciate it.
P.S.: I don't write to relax. I read fanfics. Want me to get motivated? Write your own Rei/Takao fic for me to read!
"Do you know?" Rei hissed at his mate, golden eyes narrowed. "Do you know what happens to your body after taking suppressers non-stop?"
Takao gritted his teeth and looked him straight in the eye, not willing to back down. "You said it yourself. I'm half nekojin. The effects aren't nearly as harmful to me as they would be to you," he said coldly as he once more turned to leave.
"Where do you think you're going Takao?"
"Far away from here," he spat as he stormed from the house.
"Takao! Get back here right now!" Rei snarled as he followed after him into the village.
"Piss off!" Takao threw back at him.
"Takao wait!" Mao shouted as she and Ray followed after the two. "What about your things?"
Takao growled in annoyance, not slowing down. "Mail them. Or burn them. I can buy more clothes."
Rei snarled and caught his wrist, twirling him round to face him. By now they had drawn quite a bit of attention and villagers were stopping to watch the group curiously, wondering what had gotten Rei so riled the others so flustered.
"You're not going anywhere Takao," Rei said, fangs flashing.
By now though, Takao was quite angry. Considerably so. "What the hell do you want from me?" He screamed as he yanked his arm away from the man. "You obviously couldn't have cared less what I did before now, so why?"
"You're my mate."
Takao snarled, an impressive imitation of Rei's. "You keep saying that like it explains everything. Well guess what? It doesn't!"
Rei's eyes softened. "I've been looking for you for so long. I love you-"
Takao's hand lashed out, leaving four scratch marks behind on his former team-mates right cheek. "No. No. You don't get to say that. You think that just because you discover I'm your mate, that you can claim to love me?" The bluenette hissed incredulously, much to the surprise of all the villagers watching the unfolding drama. "That just means that if I wasn't your mate, you wouldn't love me. Hell Rei, you don't even know me anymore! Where the hell have you been for these past few years? Where were you when your friends needed you? When Kai and Maxie got married?"
Rei stood frozen, his eyes wide with shock, while the villagers watching gasped, not knowing who to support.
"Grow up Rei," Takao spat as he turned and continued walking down the street that would take him out of the village.
Mao shared a look with her older brother who motioned her to go after him while he checked on Rei. "Takao, hold on a minute!" She shouted as she ran after him, both of them disappearing into the surrounding forest after another minute of walking.
"Takao please, he didn't mean it like that," Mao pleaded with her old friend. "I know he's being a jerk, but he's a dominant Takao."
Takao gritted his teeth, not stopping, not even bothering to look at her. "Stop with the nekojin terms Mao, I don't care for them at the moment."
"Arghh, you're being just as stubborn as he is!"
"Good, maybe you'll leave me to do what I please like you do him."
"That's not fair Takao," she protested.
"Isn't it," he said, more statement than question.
Mao stopped following him for a moment as she thought of how hard this must all have been for him. Takao had a new life now, and a bright future ahead of him. One that came crashing down around him the moment Rei walked back into his life, and if Rei had his way Johnny would be permanently gone from Takao's future. "I'm sorry. This must be very confusing for you Taka."
Takao sighed as he turned to look at the girl. "Look, Mao. I understand how loyal you are to Rei, you just want to do what you think is best for him. But he's acting crazy now, he's changed so much. Not for the better either. I'm not staying here for him to obsess over. I won't let him use me as an excuse to ignore his duties."
"Oh Takao," the pink haired girl said mournfully as he started to walk again. "It's not like that. Why can't you understand?"
Ray watched his childhood friend thoughtfully as he set the a cup of tea down in front of him. After Takao had stormed off with Mao following, he had dragged him back to his house in the hopes of snapping the man out of his daze. "Rei?"
"Hn?"
Ray sighed. "Are you alright?"
"Peachy," Rei said sarcastically. "My mate hates me, I was humiliated in front of half the village, and my cheek stings like hell."
"You only have yourself to blame," the wielder of Galeon said bluntly.
"Oh?" Rei snapped.
"What did you think would happen? You'd tell him you loved him and he'd fall into your arms happily like some lovesick school girl?"
"Would've been nice," he whispered grumpily as he looked down into his tea cup.
"Idiot. Like he said, you don't even know him anymore. You haven't replied to his letters, returned his phone calls, you made no move to stay in touch with him in the past few years. Mao is better friends with him now then you! It's not just him either! You didn't even go to Max and Kai's wedding! Do you know how angry Max was? How angry Takao was on his behalf? Mao said he stomped around like an angry elephant for days afterwards!" Ray shouted at his foolish friend, getting settled in for a nice long rant.
"What's even worse is that he had moved on with his life! He's got a successful career now, a fiancé even! Then you come round claiming to be his mate, when all he wanted to do was to have the contract voided! I'm the first to admit that I didn't think his intentions were honourable when he showed up, but even I can understand how much it must have unsettled him that you were the one named in the contract. And yet he still wanted it broken! Doesn't that tell you something? But no, you have to rush in like a fool and upset him! Don't you-"
"I get it!" Rei shouted back angrily. "I screwed up alright! Obviously have been for quite a while now!"
"Yeah you have been!" Ray shouted back.
"Well why didn't you do something about it!?"
"Um guys?"
"What was I supposed to do!?"
"How was I supposed to do that?" Ray yelled back as he puffed out his chest and strutted around the table to face his friend comically. "Rei you're being an idiot. Grow up and go find Takao and kiss him?"
"Yeah," Rei sneered back getting right into his friends face. "You should have!"
"Guys!"
"Not now Kiki!" Both of the arguing men yelled before turning back to face each other.
Ray blinked in confusion. "What were we arguing about again?"
Rei mirrored his confusion. "I don't really remember."
"Um Kiki?" Ray turned to their short green haired friend. "Do you know what we were arguing about?"
Kiki's eyebrow twitched as he stood in the doorway watching them. "That's what I wanted to know."
"So let me get this straight," Kiki started. "Not only did you discover that Takao was your mate, but you acted like a complete ass and now he's left."
"That's about right," Ray said as Rei shouted, "Is my mate! Not was!"
Kiki looked at him dubiously. "Uh huh. Let me guess, you haven't read a newspaper in a while huh?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Lots," Kiki said. "He's been dating Johnny McGregor from the Majestics for nearly two years. It's rumoured that they're planning on tying the knot soon. Sorry Rei, but you're shit outta luck."
Rei grimaced. "So I've heard. Takao's my mate, I won't let him marry that guy."
Ray and Kiki shared a look. "Um… how do you plan on going about this Rei?" Kiki asked hesitantly. "I mean I'll be the first to say that Takao and I barely know each other, and that we're not too fond of each other… but do you really want to make things hard for him like this?"
Ray piped up. "Yeah Ray. I mean Johnny's a rich guy, pretty powerful too. He could make things really hard for you or Takao if you eventually win him over."
Rei pinned them both with an intense glare. "Not helping guys."
"Sorry."
"I'm not," Kiki said bluntly. "I'm just calling it like I see it. He's your mate, but I think you should just forget about him. Save yourselves the pa-ack!"
Rei tightened his hand around his friends throat while Ray sighed, thankful it wasn't him being abused. "Kiki," he said pleasantly with a tight smile on his face. "If we weren't such good friends… I'd have killed you by now," he finished, letting go of the younger man.
Kiki cleared his throat delicately. "Y-yeah. G-gotcha Rei. So a plan to woo Takao huh?"
"Yep!" Rei beamed happily, glad that his friends were on board.
Ray and Kiki exchanged looks. Their friend had gone off the deep end.
Extra!
Rei frowned in confusion suddenly. "There's just one thing I don't get about all this."
"Oh?"
"When the hell did Kai and Max get married?"
Sarah: .:In Shock:. What did you do?
Me: .:Innocent look:. What? You know I don't like mate fics where the sub is treated lousy by the dom and just falls at his feet.
Sarah: You made Takao hit Rei-sama!
Me: .:Snickers:. Did you just call a fictional character Rei-sama?
Sarah: You are an evil, evil woman.