By: Lady Sapphire
Note: I kept my promise! Be happy! ^_^
Chapter 4: New Beginnings
As Kai gazed, mesmerized by her sleeping form, he lost himself in his own thoughts, and in his envy of a normal life.
Suddenly, Mariah's eyes opened and she gasped. Lifting her head, she realized that her "mother", was actually the pretentious character she had met earlier this afternoon. Frowning, she let out a small cry of embarrassment and fought hard to control the blush that was slowly crawling to her cheeks. Backing away, she scrambled to remove herself from more contact with the blue-haired man, but the minute she rose to her feet, a pang sprung from her right foot and sent her crashing back down to the ground.
"OUCH!" she screamed, bending her knees up to her chest so that she could examine the problem. Slowly, she rolled up the material of her pants to inspect her right leg. She hissed in pain at what she saw. Her leg looked like it had been through a meat shredder. She tried to move her leg around, but with each touch, the pain just increased. "I…think it's broken," she said through clenched teeth, trying her best to hold her tears in from the excruciating pain.
Kai watched in silence. He didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to comfort her? Help her up? What could he do? He had never been in a situation like this before. So, he did the only thing he could do: watch.
'Why is he staring at me?' wondered Mariah, scowling. 'Come to think of it, he's been staring at me this whole time!' she realized, as her cheeks turned a slight hue of red. Turning her head, she decided to focus her attention on her surroundings, rather than the gaze of the stoic boy. Glancing down, she noticed the other injuries that were present on her arms, and body. They were minor scratches and bruises, nothing compared to the pain of her leg. Kai had worse scratches than her, but at least he didn't have a broken leg.
Abruptly, she realized that she still held Dranzer in her hands. Sighing, she recalled that this Beyblade was what had caused them to fall off the cliff in the first place. 'It's no use trying to fight him now; we have greater problems on our hands. Besides, I can't even walk! I might as well return it to him as a peace offering or something,' she reasoned. She hated being the one to give in, but she really had no other choice. This game was tiring and rather childish, and if they were to continue, their lives would definitely be at stake. "Hey," she said, turning to Kai.
Kai raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Here you go, you win, " she said, coolly tossing the blue blade to him.
Kai caught it with ease and carefully examined it for any damage. He was so caught up in these recent turn of events that he had forgotten she had taken Dranzer. He glared coldly into her golden eyes, "If you hadn't taken Dranzer, none of this would have happened," he growled accusingly.
Mariah was shocked. After all that has happened, he STILL wanted to continue arguing?!?! What the heck was wrong with him? Well, if he wanted it this way, then so be it. She was perfectly capable of arguing back, despite her current position. "Excuse me, but if you hadn't made me so angry, I wouldn't have taken your Beyblade!" she sneered back with equal force.
"If you had listened to me in the first place and left this place, I wouldn't have had to resort to insults."
"Well, who died and made you the King? Since when do you control where I can and cannot go? Why couldn't you just have left me alone?!?!?" she scowled. Once again, he had triggered a rising anger in her.
All of a sudden, Kai rose to his feet. "Fine, if you insist on being alone, then I will leave you alone," he stated simply, glowering one last time before turning to leave.
Surprised by his unexpected movement, but refusing to show it, she retorted angrily, "Fine! See if I care! As a matter of fact, thank you so much for finally getting off my back!" Crossing her arms, she turned her head away from the retreating body and stuck up her nose, indicating that she no longer wanted to talk to him about the matter.
This just angered Kai even more. Without a second thought, he walked briskly and soon, disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
*~*~*
'The nerve of him! Blaming this whole incident on me!? If it's my fault, then it's just as much as his fault too!' fumed Mariah, still in the same position she was earlier. She sighed, calming herself down, 'It's no one's fault. Who would have imagined the cliff would break? It's just fate, I guess,' she reasoned, 'and it sure looks like fate doesn't favour me…' She rested her head down on her bended knees. Tears stung her eyes as the thought of being trapped in the forest forever entered her mind. She had not told anyone where she was, so there would not be anyone out looking for her. The only person who knew where she was was Kai. 'And he'd be the last person I'd ask for help from,' she added, disdainfully.
Just then, she heard a noise. It was the rustling of some bushes. Startled, Mariah frantically glanced around. 'There couldn't be any wild animals in this forest, could there?' she gulped. With fear in her eyes, she asked timidly, "Who's there?"
Slowly, a figure emerged from behind, but it was not a wild animal. No, it was Kai.
'If she wants to sit there and rot away in the forest, then that's just fine with me! I have no objections,' seethed Kai as he stalked away into the forest. 'It's not like I invited her here anyway.' He stormed farther and farther away from the pink-haired girl, but the more he thought about her, the more a little voice inside his head nagged at him. Even though he despised her and her explosive anger, there was still something about her…something pure and innocent…he couldn't quite describe it, but he knew he had to protect it. Something inside of him just wouldn't let him forget the way she had snuggled up to him. He knew he couldn't leave her in the forest all alone and defenceless. This part the forest contained many mysterious things, and most of them, dangerous. Leaving her here would basically mean killing her himself. It wasn't something he would do. It wasn't right. He just couldn't let death take its toll without even attempting to help. Clenching his fists, he cursed his conscience, and turned to head back the way he came.
*~*~*
"You? What do you want?" she spat bitterly. She was careful not to let her fright and surprise show. She didn't know why he was still here, but she was certain that it wasn't a good thing.
Kai said nothing. He didn't even flinch. Walking up to her, he kneeled and took her leg to examine it more closely.
Mariah's eyes grew wide in surprise and pain. "Ow, that hurts! Don't touch me! I thought you were going away! Why aren't you gone yet?" she yelled, withdrawing her leg from his grasp.
He could understand why she was acting this way, but now he needed her to understand that he wanted to help. Looking at her straight in the eye, he spoke. "Since, we are both stuck in the forest, we need to work together, if we ever want to get out. Let me take a look at your leg. I've had training in first aid before, and I think I can help you," he said, almost sincerely.
Mariah tilted her head and glanced sideways at him. 'Was that a subtle apology?' she wondered in amazement to herself. She never knew that Kai could be anything else besides rude and obnoxious. Timidly, she nodded, and Kai took her foot in his hands. Gently, he touched her foot in various positions and rubbed it in different places, asking each time if it hurt. Mariah shut her eyes to help her ease the pain.
Finally, he set her foot down lightly on the ground. "Good, it's not broken. It's only a sprain," he announced.
"That doesn't help us very much either, does it? I still can't walk," she stated blatantly.
Kai thought for a moment and then reached for the scarf around his neck. Unwinding it, he took it off, but when Mariah saw what he was doing, she realized that he planned to use it to wrap up her wound. She shook her head, "No, you can't do that. It's your scarf. You don't have to sacrifice it for me," she protested, pushing it gently away from her.
"We have no other choice," he stated, and wrapped the long material around her foot. After a few cycles, he tied a knot. He stood and held out his hands, signalling for Mariah to take hold. She did, hesitatingly and with a slight blush, and he pulled her up off the ground.
"Now don't let your right foot touch the ground," he instructed. Pulling her close to him, he leaned her body on to his own, so that he could tie the rest of the scarf around her shoulder to suspend the foot from the ground.
Blushing fully now, Mariah pulled herself away from him. It felt uncomfortable being so near him. Lowering her gaze, she thanked him for his help. 'Maybe I was wrong about him. He doesn't seem so bad now and at least he sort of apologized,' she thought, with a shy smile.
Kai grunted his acknowledgement. He didn't want to admit it, but being so close to her was making his complexion grow faintly warm too! She wasn't like other girls. He had never met another girl that could make him feel this way. He had never met another girl who could talk back and speak her mind so freely either, but that was a different story.
Then, wanting to change the subject, he noted, "It's getting dark. We should find a place to stay for the night and find a way out of here in the morning."
Looking up at the setting sky, Mariah agreed, "Okay."
Leaning against Kai's shoulder for support, the two figures staggered through the wilderness in search for shelter from the long, cold night that awaited them.
*~*~*
Author's Notes: That's all for now! My next project will be to update my Gundam Wing story. So, it's going to be another long while before I write another chapter to this story. You know, I should have been studying for my midterms, but I worked on this instead....O_o....It's not my fault though! Ideas kept coming to my head and I just had to write them down! It's strange what the mind will do when trying to avoid studying...lol! See you later!
Disclaimer: Whoever owns Beyblade, say "aye"! *Silence...then crickets chrirp* ^_^ I rest my case.