Disclaimers: I don't own Beyblade; I'm just using the characters as my puppets.

It's Not Me

Three days after the accident:

Rei woke, groggy from the medication he was on as well as from the lingering effects of the anesthesia.

'That's some heavy stuff,' he mused as he reached up to rub his eyes. 'I don't feel like I'm in any pain at all!'

It was just moments after he began rubbing his eyes that he realized two things. One: his bangs were missing, and Two: these weren't his hands.

'Stay calm, Rei. It's just probably a side effect of the meds,' he tried soothing himself as he studied the pale and slightly larger hands inches from his eyes. 'Nothing to worry about…'

Something else then found its way to his eyes. He remembered the accident in horrific detail, knowing his legs had been crushed, but there were no casts on his legs so that he could move around freely. He lifted the covers, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked over his pale legs.

'What the hell is going on? Am I dreaming? Am I dead?!' he thought, slightly panicked as he noticed the lack of any damage to his all too pale body.

He started poking and prodding himself in areas he knew he had been injured, but found himself in no pain at all. He then began peeking down his gown from the neckline that he pulled out, frowning as he noticed stitching on his not so toned stomach area.

'Surely that's not the only place…' he thought as he lifted the bottom of the gown, running a finger over the small line of sutures.

As he had sat up to study this spot, he noticed that his hair didn't move with him like it always did. It was then that his focus was directed to his head by way of his curious fingers.

'It's all gone…'

His slender fingers gently massaged his bald head, tears forming in his eyes as he then felt more stitches that ran all the way around his head.

'What is this?! This has to be a really bad dream!' he tried to convince himself, jumping and moving his hands to his lap as the hospital door opened and a nurse stepped inside.

"You're awake! They'll be so happy to hear this!" she smiled, bouncing slightly on the spot.

"What's going…" he stopped speaking, a horrified and panicked look crossing his face. "This isn't my voice…"

The nurse's mood instantly changed as she eyed him sympathetically. "No, it's not."

"Why?! What happened to me?!" he cried as he tossed the blanket aside and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"You died," she said solemnly, closing the door behind her. She had known that the conversation would eventually turn in this direction. "Your dead body was released to science by your parents three days ago. The day of the accident."

He simply stared at her, confusion written all over his face, not saying a word.

"May I sit down?" she asked, reaching for the back of a wheeled chair, to which Rei nodded numbly. As she sat down, she turned the chair to face him. "A group of local scientists had you and another young man that had just died within an hour of each other; they…well they put your brain in the other man's body," she said bluntly, worrying her lower lip with her teeth; she found it suddenly difficult to keep eye contact with him.

"So I am dreaming…" he breathed in relief, though his body was still tense, his hands clawing at the sheets beneath him.

"No, Rei. This is real."

"No it's not," he laughed, his toned slightly higher pitched as his eyes widened like a crazy person. "I'd be a freak if that were the case; no way in hell would I want to live like that! My parents wouldn't want me to live like that!"

"Calm down, please!" she pleaded as he stood, wobbling on his feet. "You're not a freak; you've just experienced a miracle! You're still alive! You have another chance!"

He shook his head vigorously, eyes closed tight as he stood in place. "I won't believe it!"

"Then let me show you," she murmured, standing and moving behind him. She then steered him towards the bathroom so he could see for himself. "This is you now, Rei."

His eyes met with a stranger's green eyes, pale skin, currently no hair, and a horrendous cut with stitches around the circumference of his head. This wasn't him…

"It's not me!" he ground out through gritted teeth as reality began to set in. "It's not!"

She ushered the now sobbing teen back into the room, tucking him in bed with soothing words that he chose to ignore, even as she gave him some sedatives.

xoxoxox

Nearly two weeks had passed since that horrific encounter, and even to this day, Rei refused to look in the mirror again.

The doctors kept a close eye on him, all of them worried since he would hardly speak and barely eat. The way they saw his predicament, he should be thrilled with getting to continue on with his life, despite the fact that he was in a completely new body.

The doctor that had spoken with Max the day of the accident came to check on him this day, checking the obedient patient's vitals and whatnot.

"I'm calling your friends tomorrow," he smiled, hoping to draw some form of reaction from Rei.

But he said nothing, didn't move, just blinked lazily and sighed as he stared out the window at the setting sun.

"You'll be leaving with them in the evening as soon as the stitches are removed," he then went on, a serious expression back on his face.

"No one will believe it's me," he finally mumbled, idly rubbing his arm where he was just injected with something. "I don't even believe that this is me…"

The doctor said nothing more and left the room.

xoxoxox

"Takao, I need you to come with me," Max said nervously later in the afternoon, the same day he got the phone call from the crazy doctor.

"Where to?" he asked over a bowl of cereal.

"To the hospital," he said, casting a quick glance over to Kai, who was idly stirring and poking his own bowl of cereal. He couldn't say why in front of Kai, not that Takao would believe him either.

"What for?"

"I need to pick up some more meds for Kai," he lied as he rinsed out his bowl.

"When are we leaving?"

Max didn't mind the many questions today; he glanced at the microwave's clock to see what time it currently was.

"Probably in an hour," he shrugged. "I still need to shower."

The hour had come and gone, and Max was growing more and more anxious as they walked into the hospital and towards the elevators.

"I thought the pharmacy was this way," Takao pointed, confused as to why they were turning left instead of right.

"It is," Max said, rubbing his knuckles together out of nervousness. "We're going to see someone."

"But I thought you said…"

"Look," Max said, turning to face his friend. "The day we took Kai home, one of the doctors that had been there to unhook Rei talked to me; he said that Rei is alive."

"But we know he's not!" Takao protested as the blonde pressed the up button on the elevator panel. "We watched him die!"

"I know we did, but…" he sighed as they entered the elevator. "The Rei we're meeting today isn't going to look like our Rei."

"Now you're not making any sense. Are you sure you haven't been taking Kai medicines?" the bluenette asked worriedly.

"No! Look, I know this doesn't make a lick of sense, but I want to see for myself if what that doctor told me is true. If not, we'll go home and not say a word about it ever again, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed as they slowly ascended to their floor.

Surprisingly, the doctor was waiting nearby for them.

"This way," he smiled, Max shivering once more from the creepiness of this man. "I must warn you though, Rei hasn't been particularly fond of what's been done. He hasn't been eating and barely sleeps."

Neither of the teens said anything as they followed the doctor to the room where Rei supposedly was.

"Rei, your friends are here!" the doctor chirped in an overly friendly voice as he pushed the door open.

The teen on the bed, who had been staring blankly out the window, turned his head lazily to them, his expression completely neutral.

"He's been kind of sluggish with reactions because of one of his medications," the doctor explained.

"Max…" Rei mumbled, blinking tiredly at the blonde. "Takao…"

Again both teens remained silent as they stared at a stranger with green eyes and stubbly brown hair.

"I'll leave you guys alone for a bit," the doctor said as he retreated from the room, Max worrying that they were going to be locked in and dissected later that night.

"Are you really Rei?" Takao asked softly as he hesitantly began to cross the room to the bed.

The brunette nodded slowly, his eyelids getting heavier by the second.

"Prove it!" Max blurted out a little too forcefully. "Just because you know our names doesn't mean that that quack didn't tell you!"

Rei smiled the faintest of smiles, slightly more awake since Max had yelled and scared him.

"Ask me something then," the stranger spoke, wincing at his own voice; it had been the first time in a while he had used it, seeing as it wasn't his.

Max thought for a minute or two before he finally came up with something.

"What was the one thing you asked me not to tell anyone the day I read your journal?"

"You read someone's journal?!" Takao asked, appalled that the blonde would do such an incriminating thing.

"To not tell Kai…"

"Tell Kai what?"

He blanched. He didn't want to say this in front of Takao and so motioned for Max to come to him.

"That I had a crush on him," he whispered into the blonde's ear.

"And what else?"

The brown haired teen flushed, pursing his lips. He didn't want to relive the embarrassment again.

He leaned back to Max's ear. "And that I had a dream about him fucking me while I was tied up in bondage…and I liked it so much I came in my sleep," he whispered, Max's face now matching his own in color.

"It is you," Max said in awe, eyes wide as he looked at his friend.

"It's me…" Rei then said aloud as Max took a few surprised steps away from him. "But I don't like this me…"

"Now you can tell him," Max offered as he eyed the stranger that was now confirmed as his friend Rei Kon.

"Not gonna happen," he smiled wistfully as he leaned back into his pillows. "It's not me that had a crush on him. It was the old me, the person I used to be. Not this freak of nature."

Max had to admit that he wasn't comfortable with what had been done to his friend, but was glad that he had him back all the same.

"We'll see about that," he smiled, nudging Rei in the shoulder. "You ready to come home?"

Rei's eyes widened, suddenly terrified. "I can't go back with you guys!"

"Well, where else had you planned on going?"

Rei shrugged. "Nowhere; I was just going to run away…I didn't think anyone would believe me about what happened. I was already dead, so no one would've known. I don't even want my parents to know what happened, not that I'd tell them anyway after…"

"You're coming back with us and that's that!" Takao finally said, looking sternly at Rei.

"I can't! I don't want Kai to see me like this; I don't want him to feel even more upset about what had happened. It wasn't his fault…"

"Well, luckily for you, he won't see you for several weeks; he's temporarily blind."

"He's what?!"

"He had glass in his eyes; they have to be covered to heal," Max informed him.

"Then what? What happens when he can see again?"

"We'll tell him that you're a relative of Takao's and are staying at the dojo due to family situations…" he offered weakly.

"But then he'd have to use a different name when he was around Kai," Takao pointed out.

"Look," Max sighed. "Well cross that bridge when we get there. For now, know that you're coming home with us and you'll not have to deal with Kai. We'll go with the story of you're a sick relative that needs the peace and quiet away from the big city, okay?"

Rei snorted. "Yeah, with you two, peace and quiet?"

"Shut up," Takao pouted, puffing his cheeks out.

"Alright, we'll go with that for now."

"Great! Let's get your stuff and get you outta here before that quack kills us!"

Within a half an hour, Max had filled out any necessary paperwork and got the prescriptions for Rei's medications along with strict orders about taking care of his head wound until it was fully healed, thankfully from a nurse and not the psycho doctor.

"And one more thing," she said before they left the nurses' station. "Should he start turning from you guys, as in not eating, sleeping, or talking, call this number immediately!"

"We should be alright," Max smiled as he pocketed the number. "Thanks."

"Dude, you're tall!" Takao commented as he stood beside Rei at the curb, noticing that Rei now stood four inches above him.

Rei still didn't feel comfortable with the whole situation and was still opting for running, but so far Max and Takao had shown him great support, and he wasn't going to turn his back on that. He would find a way to tough it out.

It's just…what will happen when he has to cross the bridge with Kai on the other side?