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.

4. Chapter 3

Title: The Tale of Trust

Author: Bonnie-San

Word count: 5180 words

Disclaimer: I do own neither Beyblade nor the Restaurant and tourist attractions used in this chapter. I always wish that I owned Beyblade though. Do dreams count?

A/N: And Finally! I'm done with this thing! This little bitch didn't want to be written unless in very inappropriate times where it was very late in the night and I had to get up early the morning afterwards. I do apologize for the time it took to write but Damn! It was hard. At least I made it, right? :)

The annoying part is that twice I got stuck for a really long time and, after I don't know how long, when I was lying in bed trying to sleep I just changed one fact or sentence and it was starting to flow again… for about 500 words and I was stuck again.

Before we continue I would just like to point out that I'm giving some credit to my dear friend AxelsDancingFlames that took care of the Beta-reading for the two previous chapters. Axels should put up some of her own stories here on too *hint hint*.

This chapter wasn't beta-read before though so there could be some careless mistakes but I'm confident enough in my English that there shouldn't be so many, if any.

Ah, well… here you go

Enjoy!

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-*-.-*-Chapter 3-*-.-*-

In the horizon the sun set to signal the end of yet another day. The day that had been warm and bright, where the sun had been shining forcefully upon the concrete streets of Moscow, was turning into a cool evening. The stressed people packed the streets while hurrying to get their last minute shopping done before the day drew to its closure and they had go on home to continue their oh so busy lives. Some decided to stay home to spend time with their family while others started to get ready for the nightlife of the Moscow streets. In this sunset, Tyson and Max were walking along a street not too far away from the Red Square chatting about everything and nothing and trying to find what to do from here on. The smell of food hung in the air as they passed a restaurant and their stomachs complained loudly at the unintentional neglect. They looked at the sign where the name was surprisingly written in the western alphabet.

"Yolki-Palki? That sounds Russian enough. What do you say about checking this place out?" Max asked Tyson. Not really having the patience to walk around for other places to 'check out' he was already on his way in and simply nodded as a small reply. They sat down at a table by a window that lead out to the now less occupied streets in front of the restaurant and waited for the staff to give them their attention. They didn't have to wait long until a blonde, good-looking waitress arrived wearing a blood red dress with a black apron on. She gave them the menus, picked up her notepad and turned to them with an almost overly bright smile.

"Privjet, Chto by vy hoteli sdelat' zakaz?"

All she got in return was two pairs of surprised faces that stared at her as if she was growing out another head. Her bright smile faltered a bit but it still held that too-polite aura. She shifted her weight and her smile caught up on her face. She opened her mouth and a heavy accent coloured her speech.

"What would you like to order?"

Tyson didn't even open the menu and answered directly. "We both would like to eat from that buffet."

"And beverage?"

"I'll take a Coke. What about you Max?"

Max stared at Tyson and answered with a hesitating voice. "A lemonade, please."

The waitress shook her head. "I'm sorry but we don't serve lemonade here."

"Then I'll take ordinary orange juice." The waitress nodded and took up the menus again. You could hear her high heels hit the floor in every step as walked away leaving them all alone. A small ball made of a table napkin hit Tyson's head and he placed his attention to Max who pouted at him. "Why did you order for me? What if I would have wanted something different?"

"Believe me but you don't want something else. More or less everything that's on the menu is in the buffet and then you can eat as much as you want." He said as if that would tip the scale to the buffet's favour. "I've been here once before. You said that you wanted to try traditional Russian food, right? There you got it. It's all in the buffet." They both rose up to fetch food at the buffet table and were quiet until they sat down by the table again.

"Finally some lovely nutrition. I'm starving!" Tyson exclaimed as he quickly dug into the food, trying to fill his bottomless stomach.

"You don't say." Max filled in to the conversation while he started to eat from his own plate in a little more civilized way. "After walking around the city for several hours you're bound to get hungry, and it has been great! Thank you so much for taking me out today."

Tyson waved one hand in a discarding movement. "Nah, don't mention it."

"No but really, thank you. I wouldn't have been able to make this day all by myself. Since I've arrived I haven't had the time to enjoy my stay, if you catch my drift."

"Everyone deserves a break every now and then. It's part of the wonderful feeling you get when working, to know that you can take a break. Oh! Speaking of breaks and work, I wonder when we'll get our first mission together."

Max sat still for a minute, watching Tyson hurriedly devour the food. Taking a deep breath he shook his head. "I've been meaning to ask this all day. What is it that you do? What kind of missions?"

As Tyson was about to continue the conversation the sound of his fork hitting the plate emitted with a loud clonk and he looked down to see his plate empty. A frown grew on his face but it quickly disappeared and he looked up towards Max too see that his eyes were widened.

"That's impressive. And did you look down even once while you ate?"

"Three times I think, I'll be back in a sec."

Tyson hurried towards the buffet table again and left Max to eat his own food in silence. He studied the fork with the food on before he put it in his mouth. This was supposed to be Traditional Russian dishes? It didn't taste bad at all. But he did miss a nice good burger with lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cheese... Tyson broke his thoughts as he came back with another plate full. And this time he ate at a more decent speed but the big bites didn't lessen.

"You know, for getting chased by vampires for weeks and thrown involuntarily into this crazy new world, you are taking it in very well."

Having realized that he had been spacing Max turned to look away. It took a few seconds for him to answer and when he did he looked up again with resolve and determination. "At least this way I'll be more useful." But it quickly turned into a smile making Tyson wonder if he'd been any serious at all. "Besides, it feels much better inside to look at different situations as positively as possible."

Tyson put some food in his mouth and then waved his fork in Max's direction. "Thwa, mwan, isch aw wheel dmrlbe qvawlit"

"Huh..?" Max answered intelligently and just stared back.

"Eeh…" Tyson swallowed. "…It's a really admirable quality you have there, man."

"It's not really a quality. It is more of a motto I live by."

"You may say that but it's a personality trait that not many have nowadays."

Max looked down on his hands, feeling a bit embarrassed by the blunt compliment, fiddling with his thumbs. "But it's nothing special, really."

"Oh it's special alright." Tyson snapped his fingers. "You know why? Because you are my partner, that's why. And that says something."

"But didn't you say that you recently found your partner?"

"Yes, I did. I found you recently, didn't I?"

"But, how do you know that we are partners?"

The sound of Tyson's fork hitting the plate rang out again and another frown blew up on his face as he looked down to find his plate yet again empty of food. Max was soon finished with his plate though so he could wait a minute. "I d'know, I can just feel it. I heard from the others that you can feel it even from the first touch and that I felt, you should have too." While standing up Tyson almost tipped the chair over and pointed in Max's direction. "Plus you are too awesome to not be my partner."

Max laughed at Tyson's abrupt cockiness and stood up as well. "But you don't even know me," They both went over to the Buffet table to get more food. "…or I you, for that matter." He continued with a smile on his lips.

"In due time my friend, in due time. We have eternity ahead of us and damn, let's spend it in the best way we can. Doing missions for BBA, irritate Sourpusses, saving the world if possible, you name it. The future has many paths forward."

By now they had returned to their table, this time Tyson had brought two plates in impatience to make sure he wouldn't have to go back and forth to the buffet table too many times.

"You almost sounded a little philosophical there" Max pointed out with an ironical tone.

"What? I am smart."

"So you say, By the way, you mentioned BBA before. What is BBA?"

"It's the organization we work for. We take on whatever they throw our way and they fix us money, shelter and a place to sleep."

"That doesn't really tell me what the organization is about"

"Oh, that's true. And I'm not sure how much more I can tell you out here in a public area like this, but I know I can tell you that BBA give us-". Something hit the window next to them with a loud bang and both Max and Tyson skipped to look out of the said window. Then time seemed to slow down, all sounds dampening and everything seemed to move in slow-motion. Tyson felt some movement behind him and made to turn around and face the unknown but froze as he felt someone's breath in his ear. His eyes widened and the presence behind him disappeared. The time sped up again and he whipped around only to see a dark figure escaping out through the entrance. The noise in the restaurant was back to normal and Tyson bolted away not wanting to let the gestalt out of his sight. He threw open the door but the dark figure was long gone, mixed with all the miscellaneous people roaming the street. Max appeared behind him.

"Tyson? What's wrong?"

Tyson looked around one more time still futilely trying to find some sign of that person. He could swear… "Did you see him?"

"See who?"

"… Never mind. Damn it! What a coward! Can't even meet me face to face. Come on, let's go back in." They walked back into the Yolki-Palki restaurant and straight back to their table. Max sat anxiously down fiddling with his silverware in his food, not really feeling like eating anymore.

"What was it that you saw?" Max looked at Tyson noting that Tyson didn't seem to touch his food either.

"…It was not much of what I saw but a question of what I felt or heard." He looked up at Max and Max felt himself grow a bit stiff at the unexpected visual attention. "Someone was behind me and that creep said-… he got right behind me without me noticing. That's so freaky."

"Who would ever do something like that? Was it someone you know? You did see him…"

"I'm not sure, I didn't get good look." Tyson shook his head, let his fork go and threw his arms up in the air to let them fall back to cross on chest. "I don't get it! If it really was him them why go all secretive?" A pout grew on his face. "I mean, come on! Why not face me like normal people and take it like a man? But then again… ARGH!" Tyson placed both of his hands to the side of his head and wiggled them. "I don't get it!" Tyson then growled as he looked down on his plate to find it empty. "And he stole my chicken!"

Max laughed right out. "You know, you did eat it yourself just now. Didn't you notice?" He could see Tyson shrink a bit. To say that Max was amused by what he saw was an understatement. "Brighten up a little, why don't you just go and get more chicken? It's not that far to walk."

Tyson tried not to let the incidence get to him and gave Max a strained smile. "Well, I'm not really hungry anymore, I'm rather stuffed. What do you say about ditching this place and return home when we're done here?"

"Sure, I won't mind. My feet are killing me anyway. But before we leave can't we visit the Red Square? It's so close."

At the small attempt to brighten him up, Tyson smiled. "Sure Max. We'll go to the Red Square. Why not?"

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As they arrived back at the house they all lived in it radiated of a warm and cozy feeling that made both Tyson and Max long for a closure to the long day that had passed. Tyson stood in front of the door and for some reason just couldn't grip the handle, he was hesitating to open the door to the sanctuary of home. With his hand hovering above the handle he stood completely still. Max' wondering eyes wandered on his back and to not attract questions, Tyson took the courage to move. The door flew open as a result and Tyson pounded in making himself heard with Max following closely behind.

"Hi Guys! We're Home!" When they walked through the door it was almost as if they walked straight into an invisible wall. The smell of cooking hit them, deceiving the silence that otherwise greeted them, telling them that someone was in fact home. "Is anybody there?" He called out anyway as to get a response but only silence treated them any respect. They both took off their shoes and walked in to find Kai sitting in the living room watching a show on the TV and having the fireplace crackle in the background. Tyson puffed his cheeks and walk over to stand in front of Kai leaving Max in the hallway. "Hey dude! What's the matter with you? If you are home, why didn't you answer when I called?"

Kai looked up towards Tyson and smirked. "Why bother? I figured you would find your way over here anyway. And look at that, you just did." That answer made Tyson annoyed out of his skull, which was Kai's goal. It was precisely what he needed now that he wasn't in his best mood.

"You could still have answered." He pouted.

Smirk fading away Kai looked down again as if still staring at the television through Tyson once more. "Tyson… move. You're blocking the TV."

"Since when do you watch TV? …don't answer that, I know you watch the news."

Kai's patience ran low, still focusing though Tyson. "Move Tyson."

For once Tyson did as he was told and sat down in the other end of the three-seat sofa to where Kai sat. He shifted so he was facing Kai. "When did you get home?"

"Just recently. Now shut it." Kai said monotonously.

An awkward silence fell on the two as they watched the TV-show, the fire place crackling in the background. Tyson pondered on how to bring up the things he wanted to say but as the time drifted away it got harder to start a new conversation again, especially when the show on TV was stealing his attention. It was some stupid show about nerds and somehow it was strangely entertaining even if he didn't get half of the jokes.

But he couldn't let this rest without being mentioned so he prepared for an oncoming argument and nudged Kai's shoulder from where he sat with his left foot. At first he didn't receive any reaction at all but he continued. Tyson could see the irritation growing inside Kai unusually fast and smirked at the success. If you used your imagination you could easily imagine tea pot steadily whistle louder and louder. In an instant Kai took hold of Tyson's foot and threw it down towards the floor, making sure to miss the table.

"I told you to shut up." Kai hissed in an angry tone that was not to argue with. Tyson then knew that now was not the right time to be difficult.

He didn't care. He had to get this out. "And so I did, but I won't anymore. What is it that you two are doing out on your missions, Kai?"

"I've told you before."

"You've told me that you're trying to find Tala and Bryan again. That is not what I meant. What are you doing on your missions?"

"That is confidential information and none of your business. Now shut the hell up or I'll make you."

Tyson ignored the last threat. "It is my business. We live together." When Kai didn't continue he went on to the real reason he started this. "I met Bryan today."

The next thing he knew he was lying down on his back in the sofa with Kai above him, strangling him. The crimson, cruel, ice cold eyes pinned him down better than the hands' grip around his throat ever could. Tyson started to struggle.

"Wha- Kai-?"

"Where?"

"What.. are you-"

The pressure increased. "You said Bryan. Tell me where."

"Kai.. No.. air.." In response Tyson felt some air get sucked into his lungs and he gave away small coughs.

"I won't ask you again Tyson" Kai increased the pressure again as a warning but released it again, gaze still as intense. "Where, did you meet Bryan?"

Tyson had to look away as the glare intensified to a level he'd never seen before. He tried to gulp but didn't succeed. "It was at the restaurant where we ate. He said something to me behind my back but when I turned around he was already gone." He felt the hands around his throat disappear and massaged the sore areas with care. When he finally looked up he saw Kai sitting down in the armchair next to the three-seat sofa, having placed his face in one of his hands while the other circled his own stomach. Kai had his back turned towards Tyson but Tyson knew Kai, Tyson could see the tenseness in his body so Tyson continued to speak. "It was in the restaurant with the buffet. The one we went to two weeks ago. Suddenly I heard Bryan's voice in my ear telling me to keep a track of you, telling me that you're doing something stupid. When I turned around he was already walking out of the door. What are you doing on your missions Kai?" He heard a sigh from Kai.

"First you tell me exactly what he said."

"He said something along the lines of:" He tried to imitate Bryan's voice. "'Keeping track of your friends Tyson? Or will you lose them to the hands of destiny?' At least that is what I heard. Who else must he have meant but you two? And what does he mean with destiny?"

Kai ignored the questions and turned around to face Tyson. "I'm guessing that it's the dangerous parts you wonder about. The missions that we get they aren't very hard. The only thing we do is to go underground to several contacts we have and also investigate different places. For the most part, that is what we do. The risk is what is dangerous. We could get caught in something that would make us unable to some back or meet people we shouldn't have." He shifted around towards the TV again and hissed. "Now you know so, for the last time, shut it."

Again Tyson did as he was told; he sat down and kept quiet. Wow, he had listened to what Kai had said twice now without any complain. That must be a new record.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

In the hallway Max had stood and observed the two for a while but when they grew silent he headed for the kitchen where he saw Rei standing by the stove, tapping his foot to the beat of some unheard music and whatever Rei was cooking smelled delicious. Max sat down by the kitchen table to dwell in that smell and observed the show that was Rei. Feeling something on his back Rei turned around and got startled when he saw Max sitting there swinging his legs back and forth. Tugging out the earplugs to his headset he turned off his music.

"Hey there, you could have said something."

Max shrugged and smiled. "I didn't want to disturb you in your little moment there."

Rei lowered the heat a bit on the stove and put a lid over the pot. "Not to sound rude but it can't be very entertaining to look at me while I cook. Cooking is one thing but just watching? For how long have you been here?"

"We got home just a few minutes ago so don't worry, I'm no stalker." Max winked with a big grin. "What are you making? It smells very good."

"I tend to hear that." Rei yawned and put his hands up in the air, stretching himself.

The tone in Rei's voice startled Max. He didn't let it show but instead made sure to have a very joking voice. "If I didn't know better I would almost say that you sounded a bit disappointed."

"I guess I am. I don't even like to cook. It gets boring after having to cook every single day for the last couple of years. You do run out of ideas. I'm waiting for a little pause away from that daily routine."

"What about Tyson and Kai? Aren't they helping?" Max asked confused and as an answer Rei laughed heartedly.

"Those two? Cooking? Heh, I'd rather be bored for the rest of my life than for that to happen again."

Disbelievingly Max shook his head. "It can't be that bad."

Rei rolled his eyes. "Oh believe me, it can. We have tried. If we start with Kai, he doesn't have any talent at all when it comes to housework, not to mention cooking." A chortle escaped his lips. "The one time Kai got near the stove to cook he accidently used sugar instead of salt and burned the food as he put the heat on too high and didn't even think of lowering it." He looked Max in the eyes showing his amusement over the memory. "Tyson could probably manage to make decent food but it always seems to end in one of two ways." He held up one finger to demonstrate. "One, it could end up totally burnt as his short attention span would make his attention find something more interesting to do and completely forget the food that he should be watching." Rei held up a second finger. "Two, in his eagerness to finish the food he would put the heat up so it would seem ready all too early but it would still not be cooked in the middle." Rei walked over to the stove to check the pot and spoke over his shoulder. "It was just easier to let me take care of it. They say it's because I'm from China that I can cook, but… I don't know. I doubt it anyway. Can you cook?"

A blush grew on Max' face and he scratched his neck. "I'm not that good to be honest, so far I've managed to make pasta and hamburgers. But that's about it." Without thinking his face lit up by thought that popped into his mind. "I wouldn't mind learning though." Big sparkling eyes asked the simple question even before he spoke it out loud. "Can you teach me? Please."

Rei was about to say no when he saw Max' eager eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine, how can I say no to those puppy eyes of yours?"

Max grinned in success and gave a nod in thanks. The subject then died out with a mutual agreement. Using the kitchen tools Rei turned the food around and deemed it finished. He put the lid on the pot again, turned the heat off and let the pot stand on the stove plate in the after heat. He sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the table to Max and slumped down with a deep sigh.

"Had a tough day?"

Rei looked up at Max with one eye as if just remembering that there was another one in the room but decided to stay in the position he was in. "You could say that. Kai's in a bad mood as it is. He doesn't need their games."

"I take it your mission today didn't go well."

"It could have gone worse. We got another chance tomorrow, so no worries. Just let him sulk, it'll be alright." Rei changed position by sitting up normally to lean his chin in his hands on the table and decided to change topic. "I heard that you are from the United States, correct?"

Confusion struck Max. Where did that come from? …and how could he possibly know? Neither Tyson nor himself had told him, right? Or had he heard when he and Tyson had talked before? "…That's correct. And you're from China." It wasn't a question.

"Yes... I am. Where from the United States are you?"

"Nowhere special, it's just from a small island to the northeast of San Francisco. What about you? Where in China are you from?"

Rei hesitated to answer, how could he bring this up without the reaction he knew it would trigger? "To be honest, I don't know."

Max' eyes widened in surprise. "What..? How could you not know?"

"Easy. I don't have any memory of neither my birth town nor my past prior 5 years ago. It's all gone with the wind." A hand waved as in gesticulating that it was a topic that should be considered light.

"And… it doesn't bother you at all?" Max asked sceptically.

Rei shrugged and stood up. "Well, can't really do anything about it so why go around missing it?" He walked over to the doorway and leaned on the door frame. "But I can tell you that it is annoying when there are people who know me better than I myself." His eyes twitched a little before he turned his head in the direction of the living room. "Tyson! Kai! Dinner's ready!" Satisfied with Tyson's shout as a reply he went to set the table with plates and silverware. Tyson arrived shortly afterwards destroying any attempt to continue the previous conversation. He quickly caught the atmosphere in the air and made sure to break it.

"Hi guys! What's for dinner?"

"I decided to do something simple today." Rei replied. "Fried noodles and chicken."

"Smells good enough." Tyson said and sat down next to Max.

"What about Kai?" Rei directed towards Tyson but stared at the entrance.

"He told me to go head, being a sourpuss and all. Rei, what were you two doing on your mission today to get him in that kind of a mood?"

Rei dumped himself down on an available seat and stroke his face. "It didn't go as planned today. We were informed that Bryan and Tala was supposed to be at a certain place but when we got there, we met Ian and Spencer instead." Rei started to automatically serve food to everyone while talking. "They are playing games with us Tyson. And it's probably one of Bryan's ideas too. At least we got some new directions from Spencer. So we still got a new chance. That I think is the most torturous thing they could do to him. Give him new hope that we both know not to trust." He sighed and took a bite of some chicken from his plate. He saw that both Tyson and Max were deeply contemplating his words. He couldn't help to smile at their goodhearted nature. "Now that you know you will have to make an effort to still my curiosity. How was your day? Was it any good?"

It took a moment for both of them to register the questions but when they came to it, their eyes brightened and they both spoke out simultaneously. Chuckling, Rei raised his hands to stop them. "One at the time, please." It was Tyson who was the fastest to start.

"Oh dude, you should have been there. You would have loved it!"

Max continued. "It was amazing. We visited the State Historical Museum, Lenin's Tomb and the Red Square. We had great luck with Lenin's Tomb, 'cause it's closed on both Fridays and Sundays."

"We also visited The Kremlin and my favourite, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War."

Rei's eyes widened. "You mean 'The' Kremlin? The Moscow 'fortress' and the one architectural monument that serves as a symbol for entire Russia?" The others nodded. "Damn it, I want to see that one."

"You haven't seen it yet?" Max asked surprisingly. "For how long have you've been in Moscow?"

"Several weeks. But I haven't had any time to go sightseeing."

"I told you to take it easy, but do you ever listen to me? No." Tyson added despite Rei's warning glare. "If you would have taken time for it then you could have seen St. Bastet's Cathedral. That one I know you would have adored seeing."

"Ehm, St. Basil's Cathedral, Tyson." Max corrected discreetly and the other snorted and crossed his arms.

"It's close enough. All I know is that it was the oldest most outstanding building in Russia. I read it in the brochure."

Kai entered the kitchen in that moment. "Tyson, Bastet was the Egyptian goddess of cats. There is a big difference there." Tyson huffed as Kai sat down by the only available seat left and taking the liberty of serving himself. "And St. Basil's Cathedral is one of the most outstanding monuments of Old Russian architecture. Learn to study what you actually read."

"Is this the bully-Tyson-until-he-can't-stand-it-anymore evening or what." He pouted and Max and Rei laughed while Kai snickered. "I'm serious here, I'm not that bad."

"I guess not," Rei pointed out, still smiling, "And you are completely correct, I really want to see St. Basil's Cathedral. If I remember correctly it's the monument that became the Russians' symbol of native history and culture."

"Please, no more history!" He begged and Tyson started to pull his own hair in frustration. "Kenny is enough as he is, don't you start as well."

"Kenny?" The confusion of Max' voice broke Tyson's hysteria.

"Kenny is one of my closest friends. Oh, I can't wait until you meet him. I'm sure that you will get along just great." Tyson said and gestured exactly how much he believed what he said with his hands. Smiling bigger than was first thought possible Max nodded eagerly.

"I'm sure we will, Tyson. I'm sure we will."

They sat there in kitchen chatting until very late in the night when they realized that it was time to go to bed. A very disturbing feeling slowly crept through the house as they all retreated to their resting shrine of this sanctuary. The crawling in their skin told them that something big was about to happen but they didn't want to destroy the good feeling this evening had given them and a good night's sleep would definitely be the cherry of the evening.

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A/N: Seriously, What is Beyblade without some kind of history lesson? Sadly enough Kenny wasn't here so Kai and Rei had to take his role as the teacher.

The Russian in this chapter is Google-translated and might not be 100% accurate, but as I don't know any Russian and isn't in contact at all with any of my two Russian acquaintances it will have to do.

But the Russian restaurant is actually something I looked up. It does exist a restaurant with that name and it is located not too far away from the Red Square. I also looked up that it does serve traditional Russian food. Hence I put a disclaimer up before. However I do not know the outfit of the waitresses have, the restaurant's design/architecture nor if they serve a buffet or not.

Next chapter shouldn't be so hard to write. I can feel the inspiration in the air :D

Have a great day!

/Bonnie