The Tale of Trust

by Bonnie-San

In this new world, the bond between an Attacker and his Weapon means everything. But when the past finally shows it's true self, the things you are looking for might be closer than you think.

3. Chapter 2

Title: The Tale of Trust

Author: Bonnie-San

Word count: 4755 words

Disclaimer: There are sadly enough too many things that annoys me in the beyblade universe for me to own anything other than this idea of a story. E.g the age of the main characters (I still don't know who is the oldest and youngest out of the four main -_-)

A/N: Finally! My internet is back up after being closed off for about two weeks! I can now post this chapter. And this chapter was real fun to write. It just seemed to flow. Though I don't know how many times I've reread it -_- Aah well..

I won't keep you ^.^

Enjoy!

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-*-.-*-Chapter 2-*-.-*-

It was early in the morning in one of the rooms in the headquarters when the heavy silence was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. A deep groan escaped from the inhabitant of the room, muffled by a pillow, and a hand slammed down roughly on the annoying alarm clock making it fall to the floor. The said person just turned around and quickly fell back to the marvelously wonderful sleep that should never have been disrupted in the first place. It was again silent and the breathing started to become slow and shallow once more.

There was a knock and the door opened slowly. Rei glanced down at the sprawled body, smiling.

"Tyson, go back to sleep and you'll regret it. We have a surprise for you so I expect you to be down in the kitchen in ten minutes." And with that he closed the door leaving the sleep-tangled teen to his daily morning routine. Tyson sat up with much effort, his dark blue hair a complete mess, and scratching the back of his head. Bluntly he reached for a pair of grey jeans and a dull yellow t-shirt on the floor and yawned. Every night he left his clothes at the end of his bed but every morning he found them on the floor. Why he didn't put them somewhere else, he would never know. He saw the alarm clock on the floor and saw that the digits showed 8:34am. Wow… 8:34… on a Saturday… They wanted something, right..? He dully started to change his clothes. His body just couldn't help but to dawdle.

…Wait, did he say 10 min?...

Tyson jolted awake and he leaped through the room hastily getting ready for the day. Did they always have to make him haste like that? They could've awakened him earlier! It's wasn't his fault that he wasn't a morning person.

When he was done he stopped and looked over to the bedside table. He sighed as he remembered that the alarm clock was on the floor, as usual. He went over to the clock and picked it up, simultaneously checking the time. It was 8:48. SHIT! I'm late! He sprinted out of the room, picking up a red jacket, a pair of socks and his blue and red cap with him in the bypass, and ran to the kitchen.

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Downstairs Kai and Rei sat in the kitchen, Rei standing by the sink drying his hands on a towel, ready to sit down and eat breakfast, while Kai sat by the table reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee.

"So, How many minutes did you give him today?" Kai asked in a bored tone. Rei turned around with a big grin on his face.

"10 minutes…" his grin turning into a smirk. "How late do you think he'll be?"

"10 minutes…"

"10 minutes? You don't give him enough credit–"

"You give him too much. Don't make his ego bigger than what it already is."

"That's just rude. He's not that bad. And he can do better than 10 minutes. I'd say 5 minutes." It was silent for a few moments as they shared challenging glances with each other.

"Are you on Kai? The loser gets to do the dishes today."

"Fine, it's a deal." The silence grew again. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, just silent.

The silence was soon broken by pounding fast steps from upstairs arriving towards to kitchen. Tyson rushed in though the open doorway, jumping on one foot trying to put on the last sock, slightly out of breath.

"Okay… I'm here.. What's the surprise?... Oh! Breakfast…" He sat down in his 'chosen' place and dug in without waiting for permission. Rei looked up at the clock hanging above the doorway and smiled.

"Told you so. You're doing the dishes." He winked. Kai made the usual 'hn'-sound in forced acknowledgement and started to ignore everything around him by taking a sip from his coffee and hiding even more behind his newspaper. Tyson looked up at Rei with his mouth full of food.

"Rawi, Whut wus thee Suprawise? Rei started to laugh.

"Hard to hear what you say with your mouth full, but you'll see soon enough. Kai, go and get him."

"The bet was for the dishes, not the fetching."

"Fine I'll go and get him." He said and went out of the kitchen. Tyson looked confused as he saw Rei's retreating body turn out of the room.

"Wawit... hm?" Tyson swallowed loudly. "What do you mean with him? Kai?"

"…"

"Don't ignore me! He did say 'he', right? Who's he?"

"…If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."

"But I'm not good with surprises. Tell me."

"…"

"Come on Kai, tell me, or I'll be very annoying."

"So you aren't annoying now?"

"I could be much worse. You know that."

Kai just sighed and continued drinking his coffee.

As Rei went out of the kitchen he heard the two bicker, like they always did. It was hard to imagine that they were good friends. He went through a small hallway into a guest room. The room inside was completely dark and due to the light shining in through the door, Rei saw a figure lying in the bed at the right corner of the room, still fast asleep. He went in, closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed next to the blond. He turned on a lamp that stood on the bed side table next to the bed and shook the sleepyhead carefully. The blond awoke immediately with a startle and suddenly threw himself in the opposite direction away from Rei, gathering in the corner while looking for an escape route.

"Finally awake, huh?" The blond snapped his head in Rei's direction wearing a glare mixed with both fright and curiosity. Rei sighed then gave the bundle a warm smile. "It's alright. You don't have to be on edge here." The Blondie's look changed into disbelief and didn't relax one bit. "Don't worry, we're the same you and I. You won't get hurt here. Me and my partner found you in a tight spot there. You're lucky that we found you in time or the vampires would have gotten you."

A loud rumble escaped from the Weapon and Rei laughed and stood up. "According to your stomach, you need nutrition. Understandable in your situation. Come on, why don't we get you some breakfast. Just so you know, there are two others living here as well. They may seem strange but they're good people I assure you. By the way, I'm Rei Kon. It's nice to meet you." he reached out his hand and the blond watched Rei considering whether or not to trust him before he took Rei's hand and let himself get pulled out of the bed and towards the door.

"Max."

Rei stopped in the middle of the doorway and looked back to the blond boy. "Excuse me?"

"My name… it's Max." Rei grinned widely and put his arm around Max's shoulders.

"Hello Max. Welcome to our simple home."

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…" Come on, Kai! You think you're so special, huh?" Tyson loudly expressed. Kai's face was hard as he had a harder time trying to stay calm and collected but he kept quiet. "I'll show you who's the best Attacker around here. Let's continue this outside!"

"Thinking about how it went last time, why waste your breath?"

"I've worked hard since last time. Don't underestimate your enemies." Tyson crossed his arms and pouted.

"You're not my enemy."

"No, but that doesn't mean that I can't kick your sorry butt." Standing up to prove his point, Tyson slammed his fist in the table.

"You wish. And Tyson… sit down. Rei will be here any minute."

"Well, 'any minute' isn't fast enough." He sat down again. "Besides, he should know not to–"

"Guys, behave. We have a guest." Rei walked into the room and turned around to show them to the blonde boy hiding in the door frame. "These are the guys I was talking about. They look like they will bite you any minute but you'll soon notice that they just want to nibble." He noticed that Kai sent him a warning glare. "… anyway, you see the impatient loudmouth with the cap on his head is Tyson–"

"Hey! I'm not a loudmouth!"

Rei just grinned and continued. "–and the grumpy quiet guy with dual blue hair and also my partner is called Kai. It was him and I that found you." Rei walked over to Max and pushed him inside so they could see him better. "Kai, Tyson, this is Max. He is the newest addition of our humble family." Rei could see Tyson's eyes widening and jaw dropping.

"WHAT?" Tyson slammed his fists in the table yet again, standing up. "How come I didn't get any say in this?"

"Wouldn't be a surprise if we spoiled it for you. Besides, we did find him yesterday." Rei answered, Kai just continuing reading the newspaper, ignoring the drama around him.

"I don't want a complete random dude in our family. What good will he do?" Tyson went over to Max and studied him and saw Max shrinking a bit because of the bad attention. "Just look at him." Tyson hit him lightly over the head. "He doesn't even talk-" As the hit connected the two shivered simultaneously. They looked at each other and Tyson's face lit up. "Seriously! You're a Weapon? You didn't tell me he was a Weapon. This is so cool!"

Max finally relaxed and sent a smile towards Tyson. That shiver, what was that? It felt… nice. Maybe they're not as bad as the vampires, he thought and sat down by the table still feeling a little awkward intruding the others home.

"Oh, this is GREAT! A Weapon… finally! I wonder if we're matched. We must be, it surely felt like it." Tyson sat down again next to Max.

A laugh escaped Rei's lips and he sat down next to Kai. "Didn't you just say that you didn't want him to be here?"

"Okay, so I changed my mind, big deal. I'm not like mister Sourpuss over there" he pointed towards Kai and continued to talk to Max. "Here, have something to eat. You must be starving." Max's bowl was stuffed with cereals and milk with no regards if he liked it or not. Max gave a nod as a thank you and dug into the food in front of him.

Golden eyes looked around the table at the three inhabitants. One was still reading the newspaper, the other eating breakfast warily and the last stuffing himself full. He felt something hitting his side and looked over to his left to see Kai's retreating elbow and nodding in the direction of the blunette and blonde before putting the newspaper away. Rei simply nodded back and turned his attention back towards the others.

"Tyson, Max. Why don't you two take this weekend to get to know each other better? After all, Max is new and need to know what's up and down around here. Just take it easy, go around in town or rent a movie, anything that might catch your interests. You'll get 4000 Rubles($135, €95 or £85*) to do whatever you want. That should be enough."

Both Max and Tyson stared at Rei for a couple of seconds, processing the words previously said. The blunette's mouth fell open and he stood up yet again. "For real? We're going to do whatever we want?"

"That's what I said." Rei answered with an amusing grin.

"… are you coming too Rei?" came in a low shy whisper from the blonde and two blue eyes looked to Rei almost pleadingly. The latter shook his head.

"This is a time for you two. Besides, Kai and I are going out for a mission. We might not be able come home until very late."

"Another mission again? And on a Saturday? Are you out of your damn mind?" Tyson had walked over to Rei and grabbed his collar roughly.

"It's none of your business." Kai jumped in and shoved him off Rei.

"But on a Saturday. Can't you two take a break once in a while? You need your rest too. What is it that you guys do that is so frickin' important that you don't care about your own wellbeing?"

Kai turned around and walked out of the door completely ignoring the blue haired boy. Rei sighed, eyes slit giving a warning look. The blunette gulped.

"Back off Tyson. Just don't. I know you care about us but don't meddle in things that you have no clue about. We've come a long way, we can't stop now. Have a nice day and take the chance to get to know each other. By the looks of it you two are connected and I do hope you truly are, for both of our sakes." And with that he too left the kitchen leaving Tyson and Max wide in their wake. Max turned slowly to Tyson and gaped slightly.

"What… just happened?"

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Kai sat outside by a tree when he saw Rei coming closer and he gracefully jumped up in the tree to sit on a tree branch above him quietly. Then they just sat there, in contentment, listening to the bird twitter. Every time Tyson put his nose where it didn't belong, Kai went out to just get away from it all. How Rei could possibly find him every single time, he had no idea. He didn't have a special pattern of places he visited, but he was glad. Even if he acted cold towards others, the content feeling of calmness rarely left when Rei was around.

"You know, our lead could wait until tomorrow." Rei opened up after some time in a low voice. "But then again, we do want to wrap this up as quickly as possible, don't we?"

"You do realize who it is that we might meet right. Are you sure you are fine with that?"

"Well…" Rei squirmed a little uncomfortably "…They are important to you right? And this is the first time we've even gotten close to find out anything at all about them in a year. So I'll be fine." Jumping down from the tree, Rei sat on his heels in front of Kai to make eye contact, giving a forced grin. "So either way, I don't have a choice."

"You could always say no."

"And risk you getting hurt, or worse, getting killed. I'd rather not have it that way." He stood up extending a hand to Kai. "But what do you say about going inside and pack a daypack? Then maybe both you and Tyson have calmed down enough to not separate whilst fighting."

Kai frowned "He should learn not to stick his nose where it doesn't belong." Then he took the offered hand and pulled himself up. "…Or maybe I should learn that he's never going to change in that perspective."

"Maybe, but now let's go inside. We have a long day ahead of us."

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An awkward silent was lying over the kitchen after Rei had run after Kai in a hurry. Neither Max nor Tyson had any idea of what to say as they sat by the table eating the last of their breakfast. This was very unusual as Tyson always had something to say, but now the words just seemed to be gone. When they finished, Tyson cleaned the table and then went to a chair and leaned on the back of it.

" Okay, this is getting us nowhere. The silence is driving me nuts. Maybe we should have better introductions. Hi, I'm Tyson Granger. And you are…?"

"Max Tate, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Max. What do you say about continuing our small talk out in the living room? It's much cozier in there."

Max nodded in answer and followed him out of the kitchen, through the hallway and into the living room. The living room wasn't big, it was slightly smaller than expected but contained everything that household needed in a living room. There was no door, just a big opening in the wall that was about 1.5 meters wide, a fluffy-looking sofa set with a three-seat sofa facing away from the entrance, one two-seat sofa on the right to it, an armchair to the left and a matching table in the middle of the room, a big TV by the opposite wall next to a window and a fireplace by the right adjacent wall. Tyson's word echoed in Max head. It was cozier in the living room. Max sat down in the armchair and Tyson took the sofa, spreading himself out.

"Now that's much better. So, let's start with the questioning Maxie" Tyson said in a joking tone making Max smile. "What were you doing here in Russia?"

Max made a grimace "I had to get away from something. I'm originally from the States but I got away from my family and then the vampires found me. I have been running from them for about two weeks. Though, I don't get why they would so devotedly chase me around for so long. Anyway, for how long have you known Rei and… and…"

"…and Kai?"

"Yeah! That's his name! How long have you three known one another?"

"Kai and Rei have known each other for as long as I can remember, but then again I have only known them for two years. As for Kai and Rei, I don't know any specifics. They are very reluctant to talk about their pasts. That damned Potatoff. You could ask them if you want but don't expect a great history lesson on their part."

Max tilted his head "… Potatoff?"

"Oh yeah, that's Kai. He's Russian and I always try to find different nicknames for him. He doesn't like it at all. Too proud I tell ya."

"Where are you and Rei from?"

"I'm from Japan and Rei's from China. You can see that on the way he's dressing."

"Wow, that's… But if you're from different countries, then how did you meet?"

Tyson looked surprised "How we met?" then he scrunched his face in thought. "Hm… well, again, I don't know about Kai and Rei more than that they met in China. They met me back in Japan when I was new to this whole ordeal. I had caught a fight with people I shouldn't have messed with out in an alley, accidentally mind you, and two of Kai's and Rei's friends found me and saved me. Weird pair I tell you but fun to hang around at times. They are also from Russia. It was their mission to find me and bring me home to the headquarters."

"Why would their mission be to find you?"

"That's because I'm an Attacker. What else?"

A confused face was painted upon Max's face. "An… attacker?"

"Yeah, an attack… What? You don't… For how long have you known that you were a Weapon?

And then Max looked even more confused, and a little hurt. "I'm a… Weapon?"

"Seriously, you don't know? How old are you anyway?"

"17 years, why?"

"17..? You're older than me? I'm 16, soon 17. Kai and Rei are both 19, but never mind that. How can you be 17 and not know that you're a Weapon? Have you been living in a cave?"

The Blond looked if possible even more confused than before. A deep sigh came from Tyson as he thought of how to explain the concept. He sat up and looked Max straight in the eyes. "I can only explain what I know so try to bear with me, okay?

"Well, you see, there are all types of different creatures. Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Humans etc. Those you know of… and then there are those that are more like myths but very much real like nymphs, lepricons and so on. And then there are The Attackers and The Weapons. That's what we are. One is kind of useless without the other, but when cooperating they become a dangerous pair, feared by most. The Attacker has the ability to release the Weapon's power and vice versa though you will notice that the Weapons usually are very reluctant to release the power of the Attacker–"

"Why's that?" Max interrupted.

"I'm not exactly sure, as I've never been in that situation myself, but I've heard that the raw power that the Weapon let out is too great for the Attacker to handle. The risk becomes too high as the Attacker most likely will become addicted to the immense amount of power and either start to abuse the power or go insane. What also could be good to know is the fact that every pair has their own signature fighting style and abilities, so just because you are stronger than one pair doesn't mean that you are quicker and yada yada.

"But I must say that as awesome as it sounds, the hardest part of this story is that Attackers and Weapons are rare in this world and you only truly connect with your one 'destined' partner. There are probably 200 max 300 in total. That means that some of us never find his or her special other as they might be born in different countries all together and they will never lose the feeling of searching after something."

It was quiet for a while as Max processed all the new facts before he spoke up. "So what you are saying is that I'm destined to have a partner and if I can't find him or her or loses that someone, I will live the rest of my live in misery?"

"That pretty much sums it up." The blunette said smiling.

"Do you have any partner?" Energetic curiousness shone through Max's eyes as he started to open up more to Tyson.

"Nope, still looking. But if I'm correct I found him recently." He answered with a big smile.

"Oh…"

It was silent again for some moments until something hit Max, his head snapping towards Tyson's direction.

"But wait! You didn't explain why I had vampires devotedly chasing me for two weeks. Is it because I'm… a Weapon?"

"You nailed it"

"It still doesn't explain why…"

"That I don't know. Either you have the library at the headquarters, I'll tell you more about that later, or you could ask Rei. He's a little more willing to speak about this kind of thing than Kai. Ask Kai and he will only redirect you to Rei anyway. You will notice that he hardly speak out if it's not necessary unless he's provoked. Especially around people he doesn't know and he can be quite insensitive. But don't fret, he is that way. Rei used a very good description: He looks like he will bite your finger of but if you let him get close enough you'll realize that he just nibbles, painfully sometimes, mind you, but not hard enough to pierce the skin."

"Thanks for the warning" Max stretched himself pulling his arms upwards before slumping down in the armchair again. "Well, that was a lot of information in one go. It will take some time digest. And now that that's out of the way, what do you suggest that we do today? I wouldn't mind walking a little around in Moscow, seeing some monuments, famous buildings, eat at a Russian restaurant, whatever comes to mind really. I haven't had the time to do anything except running ever since I arrived to this country."

"Hi guys" The silence rose as Rei walked into the living room and sat down in the free sofa crossing his legs and arms in one movement. "Have you come up with any plans for today?" They both shifted towards the newcomer.

"We just arrived at that part of the conversation. So far we only discussed our background story and I have told him a little bit about us. Speaking of, how's Kai?"

Rei averted his eyes to Tyson. "He's fine, as always. This is not the worst quarrel you've ever had so he will come around sooner or later." He found him scratching the back of his head

"It usually takes him longer to get that upset. What kind of a mission is it this time?"

They could both see Rei's eyes sharpen and his whole composure tense. A few moments passed but then Rei sighed and visibly relaxed. "Earlier this week we found a new track that could lead us straight to Tala and Bryan." Hearing the names made Tyson unconsciously jump slightly and tense. In the armchair Max looked between Tyson and Rei trying to figure out how to react. Who were Tala and Bryan anyway? Would he dare to ask? What if it was a touchy subject? Well, if he didn't ask he would never know…

"Who's Tala and Bryan?" Max intervened. Rei was the first to answer

"I don't know how much Tyson has told you already but they are very close friends to Kai. About a year ago they suddenly disappeared and we haven't heard from them ever since, though we do have a hunch that they didn't leave without a fight."

"… and I've pledged my life to find them again. End of story." Everyone in the room turned around to see Kai standing in the door opening with his arms crossed. "I'm ready to go."

Rei stood up and wiped some imaginary dust from his pants. "Then that's the cue for our departure. I hope you two have a great time and don't stay out too late." And with that Rei bowed slightly, went past Kai and out of the living room. Kai also turned to leave but before he left he looked towards Tyson giving him a quick glance then he was gone as fast as he came.

Left behind were Tyson and a very confused Max. He thought of the time since he woken up in this strange place until now and could easily say that this would take a while to get used to. Ever since he got to Russia his life had taken turn after turn for the worse, but now, hopefully, with his new companions he would make it out of here alive.

Was it even alright to just barge in here and intrude into their lives? Well, they had invented him to stay so he would take that offer. Who said that he couldn't have fun in the meantime? His head snapped toward the other teen.

"Tyson! Can't we go to the National Museum here in Moscow today? I haven't had the time to visit it yet." Max could see Tyson get startled by the suddenly interrupted silence and started to contemplate the words.

"Sure, we can go there. Though I can't see why someone would want visit a museum in the first place. They only contain old and out and outdated stuff in there… Hey! Stop laughing! I'm serious." But Max couldn't stop laughing. It had been far too long for him to hear himself laugh so he just let it go. He circled his arms around his stomach and let it flow out.

Tyson started to look a little more annoyed before he actually realized what he had said and also started to laugh. Together they laughed until it was all out of their systems. Tyson was the first to recover.

".. Aw man, that was a good laugh."

"Yeah, haven't laughed that bad since before we started this damned holiday. Thanks."

"No problem. With you here I think that this place will get a little more life to it."

"Life?"

"Yeah, Our two pals here in this house aren't exactly the most lively persons you can find. But don't you worry. It will be great. You, me and the rest."

Max looked a Tyson with a big goofy smile on his face. Before he had commented to himself that he would have troubles fitting in, now he changed his mind. He wouldn't mind this family at all. With Tyson… Rei… and Kai…

This is where he would live.

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A/N: And there goes that chapter. I'm having a little trouble with the next chapter. It isn't a writer's block because I know exactly what's going to happen, it just don't seem to want to get down from my head to the paper the way I want it. So it might take a little while until next chapter is up. Sorry 'bout that =( but it will get up.

Anyway, one thing that could help me on the way, is there anything that I missed to explain about the Attacker-Weapon relationship? Are there any other questions that pop up? Brainstorm! =D

Thank you for reading ^.^

/Bonnie

* This is depending on what currency converter you're using and at what time it's used it could be either more or less, but that's what I got at the time.