By: Lady Sapphire
Chapter 7: Closing the Gap
Cold waves of water violently met flesh, as Kai angrily spewed the clear liquid across his face, attempting to purge his head of all thoughts he had, especially the ones of Mariah. Droplets of water rolled down his face and hair. Breathing heavily, Kai knelt by the river and scooped up some water in his hands to drink. Burying his face into his wet hands, he contemplated the circumstances.
'What is the matter with me? Why is it so hard for me to do such a simple task? Why can't I ignore her?' he demanded himself, clenching his fists in anger. He felt so helpless, so out of control…so weak. And if there was one thing he hated, it was being weak. Running a hand through his unruly hair, he closed his eyes and listened the roaring sound of the river echoing throughout the air, almost as if it were laughing at him. Scowling, he muttered, "Even the river taunts my weakness…"
Suddenly letting a burst of anger explode, he stroked the river with his fists, sending a geyser of water flying in the air. "WHY??? ANSWER ME, WHY???" he shouted out to the river. Of course, no reply came. The drops of water now came back down and Kai watched silently as ripples skidded across the surface of the water. Sighing, he calmed himself down. There was no use in getting angry. It would not solve anything.
Kai did not know why he was acting the way he was, nor did he think he would ever know. However he knew one thing was for certain, he had to keep control of himself or else…well, he did not want to think of an "or else". This was something he could not fail at.
'Kai, from now on, you will revert to your normal self. Do not show emotion towards her, do not touch her, do not speak to her unless absolutely necessary…be the usual cold-hearted person you are. That way, there are no complications, no awkward situations, and especially no strange feelings,' he commanded himself, deciding that this was the best way to handle the situation.
Satisfied with the solution he had come up with, he stood to find some wide leaves. Washing the leaves first in the cool river, he then rolled them into a cone shape and dipped it into the river to gather the water he promised to get for Mariah, reassuring himself that he was only doing this as a favour.
Smirking, he turned and headed back to their camp. He scoffed, 'Love…ha! There is no such thing as love. Was I ever a fool to even think such a force existed?'
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Mariah gratefully accepted the refreshment. "Thank you," she said, politely, before bringing her lips to the leaf and drinking down the water. When she was finished, she wiped her mouth with her arm and let out a contented sigh. "Ah, that was refreshing! The water sure tastes different here in the wilderness."
"Hn," was all Kai uttered. He was sticking strictly to his plan: the less contact with her, the better. He picked up what was remaining of the berries and walked over to the base of a tree opposite to where Mariah sat. There he sat himself down and silently ate his dinner.
'Okay…that was weird," thought Mariah to herself, but decided to let it go. The fire flickered in the dark night as they sat in silence, Kai munching berries, Mariah watching the flames.
'I wonder what he's thinking,' wondered Mariah, all of a sudden. 'He's so mysterious all of the time, and he always keeps to himself! It's no wonder that he's such a grouch. It would be nice if he would open up once in a while though…' her thoughts trailed, as she shook herself awake. Taking a glance at him, she made up her mind to break the silence.
"So Kai…" she began uncertainly, and Kai looked in her direction. "We didn't really get off to a good start today, did we? Well, anyway, I thought we could start over, you know, like introduce ourselves again," she said, but no sooner had the words left her mouth, she realized how stupid they sounded. It was not like they were little children who needed to be reminded of someone they'd met before. She blushed out of embarrassment, and looked away.
Kai didn't let that go unnoticed, however, he mistakenly took the blush as a flirtatious gesture and scowled. He turned, ignoring her once again.
Frustrated, Mariah gave an exasperated scream in her head. 'Argh! Why can't I say anything right? I've never had trouble speaking to anyone before, so what's wrong with me now? It's like I'm all tongue-tied. Why? Why does he make me feel so nervous?' She was never the shy type, not in school, and not even around boys. She always believed that for others to accept a girl into a boy's sport, such as Beyblading, she had to prove that she wasn't afraid of them. And that's how it had always been. She had always been "one of the guys" with her team.
But now…it was different. She wasn't with her team; she was with Kai…one very good-looking guy. 'Ack!' she mentally slapped herself as the thought crossed her mind, 'Shut up! Stop thinking like that!' She cursed her thoughts, but that didn't help reduce the crimson colour in her cheeks. Palms sweating, she was determined not to let her thoughts get the better of her. She was an out spoken and free minded individual, and never before was she afraid of speaking what was on her mind. She was not going to let one little slip up discourage her from making friends with Kai.
Trying again, she asked, "So, how have you been these past few years? Ray tells me you guys have won many championships! Congratulations! You guys must have really improved since the last time we battled you." She gave him a sincere grin.
Kai's reply was a simple "hn." 'Not talking to her, unnecessary…' he repeated to himself in his head.
Mariah's smile faded. 'Okay…this is so not working,' she told herself. Her shoulders sagged. What was it going to take to get him to say something? She tried again, "You've been keeping up with your training, I see," she then stopped as the topic of training came up. Propping her hands on her knees and her head on her fists, she let out a depressed sigh.
This caught Kai's attention as he glanced in her direction, wondering what could be the matter.
"Training. If I hadn't been training, I wouldn't have been in this forest in the first place," she said sadly, "Lee wants me to get better or else he'll kick me off the team. What am I supposed to do? The only thing I can do is train, but that doesn't seem to be getting me very far," she stated wryly.
Kai knew now her reasons for being here in the forest, and now that he did, he actually felt sympathy for her. He knew from experience, how hard it was to improve yourself when you did not know how to improve.
Then Mariah directed the conversation towards him, "How about you? Why were you in the forest?" Maybe finally now, she could get him to answer.
Kai stared at her. Should he tell her? Should he tell her of his Grandfather's mission? What would she think? He debated whether or not it was a good idea. If he told her, then maybe she could help him think of a way to get out of it. Or at least explain a few things more clearly to him. She was a girl, after all, and didn't girls know more about this kind of stuff? But, then again, he hated accepting help from anyone, for anything, and what if she gets the wrong idea? What if she thought that he wanted her to be the one to help him bare the task? He shuddered at the thought. Like that would ever happen.
No, he couldn't tell her. She wouldn't understand.
When he didn't reply, Mariah continued prodding him. "Were you training too? How long were you in the forest before I arrived?"
"Hn."
That was the final straw. She gave up. It was futile trying to close the gap that had formed between them and growing ever since. "Is that all you can say? What's wrong with you all of a sudden? Why won't you talk to me? I just thought we could get to know one another a bit better. Is that so wrong?" she demanded, anger rising. It was very annoying when she knew he was perfectly capable of speech, and yet, she would have been better off conversing with the tree. That way she didn't have to feel uncomfortable while talking.
"Fine. I give up. I don't know why I even bothered trying to be friendly towards you. I'll just get the cold shoulder from you every time. If you don't want to talk to me, then you should have said so, instead of letting me waste my breath. I won't bother you anymore, I'm going to sleep," she said simply. Yawning, she slid off the log and onto the ground, laying her head on the log, as if it were a pillow. "Good night Kai."
However, getting a good night's rest was easier said than done. Every now and then, she would toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable position to lie. The log was too high and too hard for sleeping on. Plus, there was that irritating feeling that something was crawling up her skin and back that would cause her to squirm in itchiness.
From where he sat, Kai watched her settle into her "bed" and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He remembered how difficult it was to fall asleep in the wild. You had to have keen senses even while sleeping, just in case, and the sleeping conditions weren't exactly what you would call first class.
Maybe he was being a bit too hard on her. She was, after all, only trying to be friendly and he just brushed her off with the silent treatment. She didn't do anything to deserve that. It was just his own selfish desire to disregard anything that made himself seem weak and helpless. Besides, until the last comment, she hadn't said anything that would make him uneasy to answer. He shouldn't have been so cruel to her.
Gazing at her restless body, he decided that he was just being paranoid at the river. She didn't deserve being treated as nothing at all. From now on, he was going to take it a little easier on her. Nevertheless, he knew he still couldn't open up fully.
After about an hour of turning about, Mariah finally found a position that was somewhat comfortable. Her breathing slowed to a methodical rate and soon she was asleep. Snuggled into a ball, her body trembled in the cold, despite the raging fire burning before them.
Instinctively, Kai grabbed his coat, which was now empty of the berries. He wasn't about to let her sleep in the cold. Besides, he was accustomed to the cold and didn't need a blanket to keep warm. He did not even debate on the matter. "Mariah?" he called out, to make sure she was truly asleep. He received no answer. Relieved, he got up and walked up to her, wrapping the coat around her as a blanket to shield her from the cold.
Her body gradually ceased its quivering and her breathing returned to a normal rate.
Kai returned to the base of the tree he was sitting at and smirked. He would have to come up with a reason how his coat got from him to her, but he'd do that tomorrow. Right now, all he wanted was a night's good rest and to just forget about all that has happened today. Crossing his arms, he slowly let his eyelids droop, and soon he was pulled from the world of reality and into a world of dreams.
Sleep well, young friends, for more perils await you in the near future…
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Author's Note: Hmm, I kinda like how this chapter turned out. I was worried that it would be too short, since when I planned it out in my head, I didn't put this much detail into it, but then it turned out to be the same length as my usual chapter length. Oh well. Exams are coming up very soon :( and I should start cracking the books, meaning I would have to put aside fanfiction for awhile. That's why I needed to finish this chapter, because it completed Day 1 of the plotline. I believe this story will take place over the course of 4 days. After exams are through, I'll get back to the story. So, until then, wish me luck!
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Review Comments:
I don't usually do these because for one thing, I'm lazy =P, and another, I don't really like ending something with a list of comments. It just makes everything look untidy, you know what I mean? But, there were a few comments from the reviews of the last chapter that I just had to answer...so here's my response to a select few of the reviews. A huge thank you goes out to all those who reviewed though! =D
Anime Fan: Have you been snooping around on my computer and reading my preliminary notes or something? That's exactly what's going to happen! Yep, Kai's going to get hurt (don't kill me, Kai fans!). Of course, with me being the "happily-ever-after" type person, I will make him all better in the end ^_^...more specifically, Mariah will make him all better. It will be kind of like a test of love in a way, because saving Kai, might mean risking her own life too.....D-oh! I've said too much!!! *hits herself on head* (BTW, anyone see "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"? Dobby is adorable!) Anyway, forget I said anything....^__^
Kairules997: I wasn't planning on marriage for this story, just a sweet starting point for their relationship. ARGH! Now, I almost gave away the ending! You people are cruel, I tell you, cruel! Is this payback for leaving evil cliffhangers and not updating as frequently as I should? Don't answer that. *grumbles*
Excquadeer Kadeer: I have considered the fact of Kai's personality and I will try my best to maintain it...but in this story, I try to have Mariah soften him and teach him how to love. *sigh* Romance, you gotta love it!
Kyris: You're not the only one to complain about short chapters...but think of it this way...the shorter the chapter, the faster I'll get it done, and the faster I get it done, the faster I can update! ^_^ Now, how do you like my logic? *all sweatdrop* But, I believe, or at least I hope, a few of the future chapters will be longer.
[All Ray/Mariah fans]: Yes, I realize there are a few of you reading this story for you have clearly stated it. I, myself, am also a huge Ray/Mariah fan! I just wanted to start off in the Beyblade fandom world with something a bit different. That's my explanation for a Kai/Mariah story, besides that they really do make a cute couple. Well, if you are a fan, then please check out the Ray/Mariah songfic I posted earlier, called "Memories of Rain". I will write more Ray/Mariah work in the future, because I have some really neat ideas for them that I want to try out. But not right now, I'm much to busy with this story and my Gundam Wing one.
That's all, folks, and don't try to get anymore details out of me because I'm keeping quiet now...my lips are sealed! Humph!
Disclaimer: Almost forgot about this...anyway Beyblade is not owned by me, or else there'd definitley be more female bladers! There's not enough!!! It's not fair!