OMFG. I totally deleted this chapter half way through typing it. D: Well, now you know why it's so late. Mmkay?
By the way (And yes, this is relevant to this chapter) the White Tigers are all neko-jin except for Gary, whose human. I'm thinking of writing a background fic about it, but I lack the time right now. So as it goes;
Rei, Lee, Mariah, Kevin; Neko-jin
Gary; Human
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So… He's dying, but not dead?"
"Does it matter? He was another shooter."
"Yes it matters. And what do you mean by shooter?"
"Another loser with a gun aiming to shoot us. Shooter."
Max narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed, wishing that Tyson were awake. He glanced over at the clock and sighed. "Well, it's officially tomorrow."
"You mean today."
"Whatever." Max mumbled, looking back at Kai with distaste. The two of them were sitting at the table in their new hotel room in the dark as the other members of the Bladebreakers all lay sleeping on the extended couch across the room. It had been a mandatory vote that they all sleep together, for security reasons. Max on the other hand, couldn't sleep with more then one person in the room, as he found that he couldn't move without disturbing another. As a result of this awkward feeling, Max stayed awake with Kai and tried to keep his sanity while the Russian did paperwork.
"Can you believe this? Some how on this green Earth, this paperwork got bumped to me." Kai tossed the pen he was using down onto the desk top and groaned, looking up at the ceiling and then back down at the pile of papers as if hoping they would magically be done.
"What are they about this time?"
"Bite size getting shot." Max paused for a moment, trying to understand what Kai just said.
"… You… You mean Kevin, don't you?" Kai narrowed his eyes and glared across at the American, wondering how he ended up on a team with such morons.
"Yes, dumbass. I mean Kevin."
Max stood and walked sleepily towards the couch, falling back onto it between Max and Kenny. Kai just rolled his eyes and picked up the pen, leaning back over the paperwork with a sigh.
-x-x-x-
"I'm terribly sorry, my dear Mariah, but that just isn't a possibility. The BBA is having a hard enough time with the debt and law suites as it is."
Amber eyes glistened slightly as fake tears gathered in the corners, hoping to convince the elder man otherwise. "Please? As a favor to me?"
"I would, but that card just isn't in my hands right now. I need to go."
Mariah wiped the crocodile tears out of the corner of her eyes and glared after Charles Dickenson, admitting her defeat. She continued the annoyed gaze until she felt the gentle touch of a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright, Mar, you tried." She turned to face Lee defensively.
"But it didn't work! I was so close, I almost got us home!" She whined, fully knowing that it wouldn't help at all. Lee sighed and let his hand slide of her shoulder limply, wondering why he was even trying to calm her down. When Mariah got emphatic, there was rarely any changing until she calmed down by herself.
"Listen, even if we got home the work would probably follow us there anyways. That would ruin the whole point of returning to China."
"But our parents are worried sick! And I don't even want to think about how afraid Kevin's parents are. I wouldn't be surprised if they made him quit the team!"
Lee sighed, not really knowing how to respond to that. There was a good chance that after all of this, none of them would blade professionally again, but he didn't want to think about it too hard.
"Mariah, listen. You tried, alright? And we have to stay here. Just wait it out, nothing else will go wrong."
"How would you know? You never saw the hostage thing coming, did you?"
Lee frowned, once again finding defeat in his argument. Not wanting to loose to the female on the team, Lee shook his head ignorantly.
"No, but now we're all on the lookout for that kind of thing. The chances of another one happening are way slimmer."
Mariah just rolled her eyes and turned to leave, dragging Lee along behind her by his wrist. The two left the room quickly and hurried down the hall for no reason other then no one was around to tell them not to run. Both teens needed to burn a little anxiety, and the best way either of them knew how short of talking it out would be to run.
-x-x-x-
"Hey Gary." Kevin mumbled, after deciding to acknowledge the large blader's presence. Gary replied reaching over and patting Kevin's shoulder with an equal lack of interest.
"When can you walk without those things?" Gary asked, looking over at Kevin's crutches.
"When Sounder comes home." Kevin said with solid distaste packed behind his words. The small boy glared at his wounded leg, as if demanding it to heal faster. Gary chuckled and sighed, looking towards the window and noticing the snow falling.
"It's a shame..." He mumbled to no one in particular.
"Hell it's a shame! I can't even walk without those metal polls of death." Kevin spat, refocusing his glare on his crutches.
"No, not that. It's a shame that there are so many people here rushing to and from places, and they're all to busy to appreciate the snow."
Kevin looked up towards the window, the glare vanishing from his face only to be replaced with a blank gaze. After a few moments of silent reflection, a smile grew on the neko-jin's face.
"Remember that one time with the hockey puck and the snow boulder?" Kevin question his cousin with laughed hidden throughout his words. After a pause, a goofy smile spread across the face of the older blader.
"Yeah, and the time when Lee got you to stick your tongue to the metal lion statue?"
The smile from Kevin's face disappeared as the young teen narrowed his eyes and glared over at his human relative.
"Sure, you had to bring that up." He grumbled. Gary laughed and looked away from Kevin's glare before it made him any more uncomfortable. The two sat there in silence a while, the mood dwindling down to almost nothing as boredom once again took hold. After Lee had instructed them to stay in the hotel room, and Mariah enforced it by taking Kevin's iPod and swearing that she would chuck it off the balcony if Kevin when anywhere, there was little to do besides watching television and raiding the complimentary mini-fridge. After about 15 minutes of silence, and two pain killers, Kevin was getting far to bored for his level of sanity to be maintained.
"Gary, don't you have the remote?" He asked, with slight irritation. Gary looked down at the table beside him and nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Use it, moron."
"Watch it, bite size."
Kevin narrowed his eyes at the nickname, and randomly recalled when Mariah had used the age old name in front of Kai the day before. The Russian smiled evil and gave Kevin a look that read 'you'll never hear the end of this.'
Gary picked up the remote and turned on the flat screen plasma before them, flipping through the channels one by one until Kevin put up a hand to stop him.
"Wow, go back. Is that the Lion King?" He asked with interest. Gary smiled once he realized that it was in fact the Disney movie. So, in an attempt to better their afternoon, the two watched the Lion King and actually found it enjoyable.
"I'm not scared; I laugh in the face of danger! Hahaha!"
The particular scene dragged Rei out of the other room, and dropped him on to the couch between Kevin and Gary. Having just woke up, the groggy Rei seemed more susceptible to Kevin's prodding and pestering. This lasted until Kevin lost patience and promptly whacked Rei on the back of the head, walking him up fully.
"Wha... What was that for?" Rei turned to face the younger boy and met his with a glare.
"You're sitting on my beyblade! How can you not feel that?!" Kevin spat. Rei stood quickly and looked back down at where he was sitting, his face reddening slightly as he saw the small violet blade. Kevin scooped it up and chucked it across the room where it landed next to his side bag on the floor. Rei sat back down with a yawn and rubbed his stomach before asking for a pain killer. Kevin rolled his eyes and handed the small container to the older neko-jin. Gary sighed and took it out of his hand before Rei even had a chance to open it.
"No way, Rei. You have Kev are addicted to these things, and I'm not going to let you feed that habit."
Both the neko-jin's groaned and began to protest at the same time, generally confusing Gary enough for his grip on the container to lighten. The second Rei noticed this, he swiped the little white jar out of the large human's hands and popped it open, taking a piece and then handing it to Kevin who did the same.
"... Hey!" Gary growled, eyes narrowing. Both Kevin and Rei smiled, only to be whacked up side the head by the large blader.
"Ow, god, what was that for?" Kevin asked, rubbing his head where Gary had smacked him. Rei just sighed and reluctantly handed the container to Gary. Kevin looked betrayed, but didn't argue past that point.
What a slow afternoon.
-x-x-x-
Snow fluttered in every direction, big fluffy chunks falling from the sky and sticking to any surface left uncovered. The white frozen build up continued to rise, until there must have been a foot of snow covering the city sidewalks. Black ice on the streets made it difficult for the cars to commute easily, so many stayed home or carpooled home from the offices that lined the empty streets.
Kai took this all in from his position on the sofa just inside the hotel lobby. He had only just finished the paperwork and came downstairs. His teammates were all sleeping soundly as were the rest of the teams, or so he assumed. The lobby had few other people in it, and the number included a few hotel clerks, a bell boy, and an older couple just checking in after a belated flight. It was fairly silent with the exception of the older man's coughing and the soft violin playing in the background.
Kai watched with little interest as a black SUV rolled into the turn around that led to the main entrance of the hotel. As it grew closer to the front doors, the back window rolled down half way and a gloved hand stuck out part way, holding a black gun. Kai's eyes widened before he jumped back off the small padded bench, landing on the floor just as the first few gunshots were fired. The front glass windows of the hotel entrance shattered, sending glass everywhere. Kai's hands flew over his head as if doing so would protect him as he crouched behind the bench. He felt something rip across his upper arm, but the bullet kept flying and smashed into a large fancy pot with a tropical plant in it.
Just as quickly as it had started, the rain of bullets came to an end, followed by a smash as something heavy landed next to Kai, and the revving of an SUV engine.
Kai looked up to see the large car roaring away. It must have been going at least 90 miles an hour by the time it was off the hotel driveway. Kai's attention snapped down to face the brick that had been chucked through the windows. There was a piece of paper attached to it, and Kai removed it shakily. Upon opening it up, he could feel his stomach freezing over. Scrawled across the paper in messy sharpie were four simply words that struck fear and anxiety into Kai's heart;
How are your friends?
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xChewy; Oh, I think I just overcame my writers block! Oh, I'm so glad this is turning out the way it is!
Kai; Ahhh! What the hell is the matter with you?!
xChewy; Hey, you should be thankful I didn't cripple you like I did Kevin.
Kevin; Hey!
xChewy; xD
Kai + Kevin; Jerk. -.-;