Chapter 47------The Reason I Protect

Mai stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. She noticed the mirror was misty and like she had always loved doing, began to write her name out on the glass. She smiled to herself as the clear bits of her name stood out amongst the foggy parts.

Through the clear glass, Mai noticed her hair, it had grown longer. She ran her fingers through her wet locks, 'Maybe I'll cut it when we get back to Japan.'

The mirror started to clear up and she could see her whole self. She looked tired, and why wouldn't she be? She had been through a lot in the past 6 months. Being captured and rescued, captured and rescued again, she felt like a mistreated animal. Mai pulled at the skin under her eyes, "Sigh. What am I doing with my life?"

-The boys…-

"Where's Mai?" Tyson asked as he entered the training room carrying a hotdog.

Max looked around and came to one conclusion, "She's run off with Ka—"

"No! Don't even think about it." Rei reprimanded him. He had had enough of this Kai and Mai crap. "They're not together and DON'T go looking for them. Just leave them alone."

"I'm going back to the dorm." Rei walked out of the room.

"Everyone's so angry…" Kenny muttered to himself.

Max looked at Tyson who only shrugged.

-Dorm 16-

There was a knock on the door, "Open up, it's me."

Rei heard feet stomp on the ground before the door opened. Mai moved away so that he could enter and went back to watching TV. Rei joined her on the couch.

"You as-as-as-as-as-as-askuedo–"

"HAHAHAHAH!" Mai burst out laughing. The show was a game where you weren't supposed to laugh when the man read the sentence or else you would get beaten by a bokken.

"Some of your…lotions (questions)?"

Rei and Mai cracked up.

"AHAHAHAHahahahaaa. This is seriously funny!" Mai wiped a tear from her eye.

"Kendo, tanaka, outto (out)"

Mai watched as the contestants were whacked hard on the butt using the bokken.

"I know how that feels…" Rei spoke from experience. Grampa G had ambushed him once…

"Turampulled (travelled) –Mai snickered- fromu (from) Be-be-bei-be-be-be-be-bikuta. (Venice)"

The pair howled with laughter.

-Outside-

'Eh? Laughter?' Kai hesitated to knock on the door, someone he'd rather not see right now was in there.

But where would he go? He couldn't train forever nor could he roam around the whole institute. He decided to swallow his pride and just go for it.

-Inside-

"Hahaha! Could you get that Rei? Hahaha! Bikuta he says! AHAHAHA!"

Rei opened the door to see Kai, "But uh…-turns to look at Mai- never mind…" He let him in.

Mai stopped laughing and cleared her throat when she saw him. She focused her eyes on the TV; the man was now counting to a hundred. Rei went back to his seat beside her.

"Nineteen, ten…ten ten (20) ten ten one, ten ten two…"

Rei laughed, Mai laughed, Kai smirked.

"Ten…-uses fingers to count- ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten (100)!"

The Chinese pair couldn't control their laughter but Mai was surprised to see Kai laughing, a little more reserved than them but still, he was laughing. Kai caught her looking at him and she quickly turned back to the TV.

"Owarimashita… (It's over)" Mai said disappointedly and sunk into the sofa.

"It was fun while it lasted." She nodded in agreement with Rei.

"Saa," Mai stretched and got up, "Time to get back to training." She took her beyblade from the coffee table. "When's the tournament starting?"

"Friday."

"Then we have only one day left to train? But one day's not enough!" Mai held up a finger to her chin, "that means we have to train more..." She said this more to herself than the others in the room. "Ma ii ka. (Anyway it doesn't matter) Ja ikimashyo! (Let's go train!)" Mai pushed Rei out of the room.

"B-but my beyblade is trashed." Rei said as Mai pushed him along.

"Oh yeah, I forgot…" Mai let go of the raven-haired boy. "Then what do you propose we do? I don't wanna train the whole day…It's so boring." She sat herself on Rei's bed. "Sou ka! Let's go down to the lake!"

The girl rushed to her luggage, took out something black and pulled it over her right wrist. She made sure it covered everything, "Okay, let's go."

"Actually I'm a bit tired, mayb—"

"Rei!" Kai said in a rather orderly tone.

"Shikashi… (But)" He looked from Kai to Mai, he knew someone had to go with her; Kai had made it very clear that time.

"Iin desu ka? (Is it all right?) It's okay if you want to stay here." Mai suggested.

"Iie, boku wa ikimasu. (No, I'll come)" Rei gave in.

"Kai can come too if he wants…" Mai said softly as she walked out of the room.

"Huh?"

"Hurry up, I'm locking the door." Mai called.

"H-Hai!" Kai rushed out of the room.

The girl turned the keys and stuffed them in her jacket's pocket, "Ikou. (Let's go)"

-Fast forward-

"Whoa…" Mai let out a sigh of amazement. The lake was huge! It was bigger than a soccer field! No! A stadium! She ran down to the edge of the lake for a closer look.

"Oi! Kiotsukete! (Be careful) Don't fall in!" Rei reminded. He watched as Mai stood by the lake, coaxing a few ducks to come near her. Kai came up beside him.

Rei chuckled, "We're always looking out for her, aren't we?"

"Hn." Was Kai's reply.

The both of them stared out at the lake, keeping an eye on Mai once in a while to make sure she was safe. Everything was so peaceful, it was here that they could slow down, relax and just forget everything even if it was just for a moment till-

Rei broke the silence, "When are you going to accept the fact that she's old enough to take care of herself?"He turned to Kai, "Don't you think you're being too overprotective?"

"Maa ne, (Maybe)" Kai shoved his hands into his pockets.

Silence…

"Demo kawaisou da. (I feel sorry for her)"

"Kawaisou?" Rei tilted his head.

Kai sat on the grass, watching Mai throw some leaves at the ducks. "She doesn't have anyone, and yet so many people are out to hurt her…If we can make life a little better for her then I don't mind protecting her. Everyone should be given a chance to live."

"You learnt that from the Abbey?"

Kai kept quiet.

"Mai's life is hers to live; we can't change that. But do a good job, kareshi. (boyfriend)" Rei patted him on the shoulder.

"Kareshi to yunna! (Don't say that)"

Rei laughed. "Mai! Let's go!"

"Okay!" The girl ran up the slope and joined the boys who had already started walking.

'Even if it's just one chance, I'll make sure she enjoys it…' Kai thought.

-Fast forward-

"Eh, it's a bit slow here. The turns aren't sharp." The group was huddled around Kenny's computer, analysing the statistics of today's training. "Draciel has to have more balance."

"But how can we improve on it?"

"There's a simulation we have at the lab. You can try it if you want; it trains for every aspect of the beyblade if you adjust the conditions right." Judy replied.

"Put on Kai's and Mai's battle, Dizzi."

Dizzi: Coming right up!

A loading bar appeared and the video started downloading: …30...56...78...100. The image of Mai's battle popped up on screen. The girl watched herself, 'Rei was right, we do look like we want to destroy each other…' She saw that her face and Kai's face were etched with lines of anger; in their eyes you could see a deep desire to win, to defeat the other.

Judy watched with keen interest, "Amazing…I've never seen such intensity in a battle before! The both of you have so much potential." She turned to look at the pair.

"Uh thanks." Mai shrugged.

"Yup, more potential than you could ever dream of." Tyson said to himself but got a hard nudge in the ribs from Mai.

"Really?" Judy raised a brow.

"N-No!" Mai flustered, "Tyson's just sputtering rubbish! You know how he gets when he's hungry, his brain can't function properly." She received a dirty look from Tyson but didn't care. This was something Judy couldn't know about.

"Haha, I see. By the way, have you boys been informed about the conditions for this year's tournament?" Judy typed on the keyboard and accessed a website.

"They changed the criteria?" Tyson questioned.

"Apparently so," The woman's eyes seemed to be scanning something, "here, take a look." She turned over the computer screen. The group read down the long list of rules and regulations, "Partners? In a tag-team match?" Max sounded surprised. It was the first time the BBA was implementing such a condition.

"Then that means we have to fight each other…" Rei looked thoughtful for a minute before adding on, "so what about the pairings?"

Everyone kept silent; Max drummed his fingers on the table. They all thought that they'd be fighting as a team, not with each other. If the BBA was trying to test if they could work in a pair then it was really ingenious of them to do so. Put beybladers who work so well single-handedly together and you get major chaos, albeit good for the TV ratings.

"Well, I could pair you guys up based on your stats but if you want to choose who you want to pair up with then by all means go ahead." Kenny spoke up.

"Then one of us will be left out," Tyson propped his head on his fist, "deshyo? (Isn't that right?)

"Maybe all of you should decide now. Since you still have one more day left to train, it'd be good to use that day to work together with your partner." Judy suggested.

"Tyson and Kai would be a good match but, I'm guessing the both of you don't work well together so… maybe Tyson could go with Mai?"

"Dame. (No)" Kai objected.

"Dooshite? (Why)" Mai argued. "Then what have I been training for all this time? Don't tell me it was all in vain?"

"Then would you rather show the whole world what you are?" Kai's tone matched hers: defensive, rebellious and loud.

Mai was stunned.

"Do you want the incident in China to repeat itself? What if people got hurt? What if your Grandfather saw you on TV?"

Mai shook her head slowly as fear crept over her, "Iie…iie da (No…I don't want it to happen…)" Her eyes grew wide with terror, she didn't want to be captured again; she didn't want to die. 'He'll kill me…He'll kill me!'

"Mai? Oi, shikkarishite. (Get a hold of yourself.)" Max shook her gently on the shoulders. "Kai! Omae mou! (You're too much)"

"Shinjite…dame…kowaii… (Dying is bad…it's scary…)" The memories flashed in her head: the blood, the experiments, the battles, the hurt, the pain, how no one helped her but instead just watched her die with indifferent expressions on their faces… "Dame…kowaii…kowaii!"

But she stopped speaking when she felt someone's touch.

"Hey, it's all right. No one's going to hurt you." Judy stroked Mai's hair, slowly the girl calmed down. "Nothing will happen to you. You're safe here."

Mai looked at Judy; her smile was so warm that it reminded her of her own mother. "Ka-san… (Mother)"

"Hey now, didn't I tell you not to get carried away by your feelings? Don't cry; you're a big girl."

Mai gritted her teeth, she couldn't help it, Judy reminded her so much of her mother. She missed her, so much. "Ka-san…oka-san…" The girl cried into Judy's shoulder while the boys just watched her, speechless, with sympathetic eyes.

'Itsumademo…naiteru. (You're always…crying)' Kai didn't like it when people cried, it made him feel uneasy, he wasn't use to this outpouring of emotion. He couldn't stand it, why must you cry? Crying won't solve anything; it'll only make you weaker. Crying makes people comfort you, they gain your trust, only to betray you in the end…

-Flashback-

But it was too late; it had slammed shut and wouldn't open. The little kid slammed his fists on the metal door "Nala! Nala! NAAAAAALLLLLLLLAAAAAA!" The small figure fell to his knees, tears rolled down his cheeks 'it was never your fault…it was mine… subete wa watashi no se da… (everything was my fault …)'

"No need to be sad Kai. The girl was breaking you apart. She deserved it; she was stopping you from becoming the best."

His grandfather placed a hand on his head "Everything is for your future…"

The boy looked at him with watery eyes, he couldn't stop crying. Voltaire stooped down to his level, "You will grow up to be the best," he ruffled his grandson's hair. "Then no one can push you around because you'll be the strongest; and then you can protect what is precious to you with your power…"

"Really?" The boy sniffed.

"Yes, really."

………

"Get them! Don't let them escape!" Voltaire shouted.

Gun shots rang into the night. "KAIII!"

Tala was on the ground, I couldn't save him.

Grandfather took him away…

"KKKKKAAAAAAAIIIII!"

-End of flashback-

"I'll take her back to our room," Rei offered. "Let's not stress her out anymore." He got up from his chair and went to Judy's side, "Mai, let's go back." Mai willingly obeyed and got up, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"We should all call it a night. You've got one day left to train so rest well. Come Max." The mother and son bid them adieu and went off.

The group walked back to their dorm in silence, greeted each other good night and went into their separate quarters. Mai sat on her mattress, she didn't bother to change out of her clothes and she didn't bother if the TV was on or that the moon was out tonight. Her mind was a blank; she didn't want to think anymore. Wouldn't it be better if she just stopped thinking? If she never knew things like Eden or power existed? "To not be able to know anything…Isn't that true happiness?" she mumbled.

"Hm?" Rei stopped drying his hair to listen.

"If we never knew about things that could scare us, things that could harm us, things that could make us sad, we'd be living happy lives. But we can never avoid them forever; such things will catch up with us…"

"And then consumeus…"

"Mai…" He could see that her eyes were glazed over.

Mai blinked hard, as though snapping back from her trance-like state. "Gomen, I must sound ridiculous. Sometimes I just space out and think about things too deep." She pulled off her wrist band and undid her jacket. She got up and was about to enter the bathroom when—

"You worry too much." Rei said.

"Heh," the girl smiled to herself, "Sou ka."