A.C.: It's amazing how the mind can go on a tangent. Umm... right... so I totally failed in my attempt to wrap this up in two years meh -shrugs- dialogue mostly because... I wasn't able to write. I did write but just not... relevant subjects. And yeah...

Yeah.

-Makes a weird face-

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade

Warnings: As always, watch out for the rampant use of grammar

For reference in case you're confused...

Ian as Ivan

Spencer as Sergei

Bryan as Boris

Boris as Balcov

Tala as Yuriy

Hiro as Hiroshi

Tyson as Takao

Hilary as Hiromi

-

-

The rounded pebbles hissed and swore as the waves tore the shore apart. Brooklyn stared at his ghostly likeness in the window before throwing back another swallow of an unidentified fruit drink. He winked at it and it smiled back reluctantly, slow and bit stupid in his opinion. The image in his beverage showed a sharper image, slit-shaped pupils in tropical colors, dark and hungry looking.

A girl bumped shoulders with him and the mirror images scattered like fish in a pond as he gave her a sunny smile and a handful of kind words. She blushed, smiling at him hopefully as she began to pick up the conversation and fill the space with inane chattering.

His fingers began to circle the rim of the glass, waiting.

-

-

The chilly wind ruffled his hair, but he didn't feel it--he couldn't--so focused on the other two before him.

Takao swayed on his feet, shaking his head sideways in denial of the words uttered, frightened at the thought of losing the last semblances in normality. His face cringed and contorted, taking on various shapes through emotions. He spat denials, dwindling down to protests then finally silence.

All through this Kai watched patiently before inquiring casually, "Are you finished?"

The blunette flared back up, offended. He collapsed into peals of nervous laughter, arms clenching around his middle.

"You just told me... oh man you had me going for a sec..." the weak chuckles tapered off, and he cleared his throat. "If we were really brothers, someone... someone would have told me... heck Hiroshi would have told me already." The watery blue eyes swiveled to the slate-haired man. "Right? You wouldn't... you wouldn't have kept this from me."

"The man's been running out of your life since you were five. Is it really hard to believe that he might be keeping secrets from you?"

Takao shook his head fervently,

"Not something this important," he swallowed, his hand straying towards Hiroshi's cuffs.

Kai's lips stretched lazy and deliberate. His hands hung limply from his knees, fingers weaving themselves against the air. Hiroshi glared at him hard but avoided Takao's touch. "You're lying." Takao breathed in wonderment. Kai bore his incisors. "You would have told me in the beginning..."

"I didn't know in the beginning. I didn't bother keeping track of him." then he added as an afterthought, "If I had gone to her funeral, you and I might have met then."

"Her funeral."

"Your mother, not mine."

"Dad had an affair?" Takao looked faint, the hue of skin matching the cool pallor of Kai's own.

"She was your mother..." Kai repeated dismissively before Hiroshi interrupted with a warning, "Kai." The slate-haired teen froze, his eyes blown wide. "Enough." Kai tried to sneer, blow the man's orders off. But his spine straightened visibly, his lips pressed in a thin line. Hiroshi breathed with a low hiss, a tick in his jaw giving everything away. Takao recoiled visibly, the sudden tension in the air palpable and even unbearable.

"Is that true?" Takao demanded, an edge of hysteria entering his voice. Dragoon's bit kept quiet now, the blunette's power stretching too far and fast to focus on bringing the bit beast back to life. It was a small blessing, but appreciated--especially when it seemed as though the younger Kinomiya was about to have a stroke at the tender age of fifteen. "All this time, Kai was my--our brother. All this time..."

Hiroshi let out a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He turned his face up towards the ceiling, not quite ready to meet his brother's eyes--neither of them. Pressing the calloused pads against his eyelids he asked tiredly, "What do you want me to say Takao?"

"Anything," Takao snarled in response, some of the colors returning to his face. "Hell I'll even believe that maybe you were even in the Abbey with him." when none of the replies were forthcoming the sickly maroon drained out of his cheeks again. "Oh god..."

"Telling you..." Hiroshi started, shaking his head in exasperation. "What good would it have done?" there was a small rustle, almost unnoticeable in the silence of his room. "What good would it have possibly done?"

"I... I..." Takao hiccupped, tears springing freely to his eyes. He backed away from his older brother then, pivoting out and reaching out for the only other person in the room. Hiroshi commented unnecessarily,

"He's gone."

-

-

The air was heavy but clean.

Kai didn't wait for the two Kinomiyas to finish. He jumped down the window and landed on the packed earth without making a sound. At the sudden motion, a stray cat hissed at him from below the porch and sprinted up the fencing. Kai stared after it coolly, at its dirty gray fur and his reflection in its calculating amber eyes. The feline looked back with a scornful grimace, its crooked tail brushing up against its flanks.

His toes curled slightly against his bare feet.

His breath fogged up his face in a steady stream.

He began to walk forward.

He opened Hiroshi's cell phone and scrolled down the caller list.

-

-

"You wonder why they make an effort to decorate a box." Ivan remarked as he sat astride behind Boris. "I mean, it's just a box, it's what it's inside that counts."

Boris rubbed the edge of his mouth, his tongue suddenly feeling dry. He needed a drink. If the clouds above were any indication, he would need to break the twice the amount of speed limits to get back on time. Taking the advantage of a red light, he glanced back at Ivan questioningly.

"You going all philosophical on me Ivan?"

But he had to admit, the box in question was dubious at best. With his shoot-first-ask-questions-later type of mindset, it was a wonder he hadn't set it up with a bomb and stuck it under the nearest bridge. Ivan jabbed his kidneys in retaliation.

"There was a camera in the last five kilometers or so, do you even have a license?"

"This is Japan. They sell everything from hard liquor to condoms in a vending machine."

"Which is why we nearly got pulled over last time you tried to run at red light. Stop being so conspicuous."

"Can't help looking good," he earned a disbelieving snort in return, "but hey, you don't look as short in this country." Next punch indicated that he might have to sign up for organ transplants. "Maybe they're trying to look good," Boris amended, "Hiwatari's name gets thrown around a lot." He leaned against the handles, bored. "What's wrong with a nice box anyways? Sergei would kick our asses if we carried his ashes around in a first aid kit."

Sergei--it didn't hurt anymore... well that was a lie but it no longer burnt. Pain was something he was familiar with, the emptiness of loss, fear resulting from the fact that he had touched someone had been touched in return scared him. Possibly why, even three days later, he rarely left the side of his teammates. It wasn't obvious, he didn't stalk Yuriy through showers as tempting as that had been. But he put a foot down when suggested that he go and pick up Sergei's ashes alone from the crematorium. Ivan had followed reluctantly, knowing, but hadn't mentioned anything.

He'd lay off the blunette's height for a while, just to keep him on his toes.

"It could have been worse." The light changed to yellow. "He died fighting; there are worse ways to die." He heard the shorter Russian let out a small sigh behind him.

"Forgive me if the thought doesn't make me feel any better."

"It wasn't supposed to... hey green light."

Wiry arms immediately encircled his waist.

"Oh sh-"

-

-

After three rings a heavily accented voice answered in English, the cacophony of background noise bleeding through the phone. The stress on the vowels reverberated against the receiver. Kai quickly requested Brooklyn and with a nonchalant 'eh' the phone was passed on to another person as he walked down the street. The noise faded and strengthened like the tide as the phone exchanged owners. Finally, the ginger-haired blader replied with a purr, "You should take better care of yourself."

"Keep out of my dysfunctional family life then."

"Mmm, something tells me you would have walked out barefoot anyways."

"You planned this."

"Perhaps," Brooklyn acquiesced with a short laugh, "What do I owe the pleasure Kai?"

"Don't call me again, ever."

"No, I'm not giving you up yet. You're one of a kind..."

"Give it back Kai." And in an instant Brooklyn was murmuring nonsensical things into his ears--for his and his alone. Kai froze as a deer might have in front of car lights cutting through the dark. He gripped the phone tighter against his ear and Hiroshi repeated, "Give it back." Brooklyn had not finished speaking yet but his words were harsher, cutting and frustrated. The gentle lilt of his voice carried over the cold air as Hiroshi folded it shut, still clenched in the teen's hand. "Should have known he put you up to this."

Kai tossed the phone at the man. Hiroshi caught it with a wry grimace, taking in the state of his dress; barefoot and pajama pants sizes too big for him, an orange-and-white jacket hung loosely around his shoulders.

"Kicked out of home so early Hiroshi?" Kai made a sharp turn, barely slowly as the pavement gave away to cobbled road across the woods. Dry leaves crackled as Hiroshi followed,

"Takao's taking it very well thanks to you, Ryuunosuke... he's never accepted me in the first place." He snorted, the sound transmuting into a cloud of moisture. "I suppose I should count my blessings."

They went in deeper into the forest until the beige-and-cream; brown-and-rust lines hid the outlying houses and streets from view. Hiroshi took a step back when Kai brushed up against a Japanese maple, its wiry branches swinging back to create an audible thwack against his chest. The slate-haired teen stopped unexpectedly and said, "I was going to tell him, all of it."

"...But?"

Kai looked furious, frustration pinching his features as he turned around. "You already know." Any protests that might have been there suddenly died on his lips, "and you know why." The branches seemed to shake as the sound exploded outwards unreasonably loud and clear. Hiroshi barely held his gaze,

"Sorry."

"Save it." And Kai continued on, his feet soft and dainty against the half-frozen ground. Hiroshi did not follow.

"Does it matter that I never wanted this for you, for me in the first place?"

"You made a choice back in the abbey, you chose to run away. It was the smart thing to do, congratulations, you're a survivor." Kai paused a second time as the former BEGA coach caught up. "You no longer belong with us. All I've asked for was that you leave us--me--alone. So as Takao has asked, why?"

"Maybe I wanted to apologize, make amends before you disappear again."

Kai's eyes were half-mast, shimmering like a sea of wine. The edge of his mouth quirked in a derisive smirk, "You want to fix me Kinomiya?" his voice hardened, "I'm not another project for you to work on. Order me if you must but it will be a cold day in hell before I let you 'fix' me."

"Fine." Hiroshi held something up between his fingers, an empty bit.

Kai immediately felt a pull towards it and knew what it was. The jacket pockets were empty--how had he not noticed?--He schooled his features into a mask of impassivity. "I saw the marks around your heart, they weren't there before. You've... let her in." Kai growled. "Why?"

The colors in Kai's eyes phased from sunset red to deep amethyst. His tongue flickered out tasting the air, cringing, backing up an inch before stepping forward another. He shook his head, shadows flickering over his face. The pupils rounded and contracted into pinprick points. The phone vibrated in an angry hum. He felt his hair rise on end. He held his neck stiffly, "I needed her, she needed me back."

"Dammit Kai you have Suzaku. You have your inheritance laid out before you and you're still stuck playing this game." Hiroshi closed his palm and the bit disappeared from view. The phoenix blader did not bother relaxing, "she's dangerous."

"She, he, it's me. You gave me to her, him."

"I was seven, I didn't know any better."

"You knew what I was, even then."

"No," Hiroshi denied with a sad expression, "but I do now."

"I was your bit beast, Kuro Suzaku was meant for you." The words overlapped each other in Hiroshi's ears. It was as if there were two Kais speaking at the same time--one meant for this world and the other not. "Was and still is but no longer. That bit will never last."

"You were supposed to be my brother."

"No, I was supposed to be your bit beast." Kai shrugged, "my creation wasn't your fault but the fact that we met each other is." In a smaller voice he resumed, "it's the only thing that's keeping me in one piece right now. I can't just get rid of... this..."

Hiroshi only managed to look pained, "you shouldn't have to need it... you..."

"You gave her up," Kai said in a matter of fact voice, "she's mine now." He stretched his fingers out and plucked the bit out of Hiroshi's hands. The fused metal and plastic instantaneously crumbled away, pinched between the thumb and the index finger. "It doesn't hurt anymore when we touch. It shouldn't matter anymore."

"It's not you."

"It's not as though you can tell which one of us is which anymore." Kai scoffed, "I remember your face when you saw me, when you held me in your hands, I remember you screaming, leaving, coming to see me one last time. I remember seeing myself, the fire, the darkness, I remember you." He spun on the balls of his feet and lengthened his stride. His lean back was beginning to grow small, filtered out by wood and dead leaves. "But I don't. Because while some of us keep our promises, others don't."

-

-

And Kai ran, away from him. But it wasn't out of fear or discomfort or whatever it was that had taken its place as the flavor of the month.

He ran because he could.

Hiroshi followed for as long as his eye could see between the boundary of skeletal trees. When the flashes of white and orange stopped appearing, he turned around--towards home.

No, not towards home because it was never his home was it? He had lived there once, when his mother had left his brother and father back in Russia to marry a Japanese archeologist. The man had taken him in, never tried to supplement his father. The grandfather had disapproved of his son taking on another man's wife, disapproved of Hiroshi because he was not of blood. Then Takao had come bouncing along. Hiroshi was tolerated, never loved--never wanted it--and one day he just left under pretence of an expedition and an unsung promise to come back.

Now, in the present, in Japan, he had come back in the only way he knew how. Of his two brothers, one welcomed him in open arms before turning away in confusion; the second had rejected him on the spot. And he deserved it, most of it.

At some point in the crossroads, Takao joined him on his venture back home. The blunette stuck close, their arms not quite touching through the cloth, their pinkies brushing up against each other's. The blue in his eyes was dimmed, his voice hoarse, his skin tight and pale.

"'m ready to hear that story now."

And Hiroshi looked at his younger brother with surprise and something akin to hope unfurling in his crimson-tinted eyes. The elder Kinomiya didn't bother with questions this time. He pushed the cap over Takao's eyes, blinding him, gently guiding him down the streets while recanting a tale that should have never happened in the first place.

-

-

A.C.: after about a month of juggling this chapter around, I decided to just go ahead and rewrite it. -fidgets-

-

catchmeloon- Thank you :)

Ma.anda- Something I've been thinking about since the guy's been introduced into the series. Seriously, he looks more like Kai than Takao.

YuriyTalaIvanov- -grins- wonders of fanfiction. And yes they had the same mom though it's kinda doubtful if Kai sees it that way. Construction-worker-person-guy is an original character that spontaneously disappeared off the radar after the chapter -coughs-

Ayatsuji- I like my Brooklyn a lot too -nods- heh college -flails- no one's on these days. Damn the term differences and everything. Happy leap year? These things only come four times a year -laughs-