Hikaru woke with a start when her mobile phone started its hilarious song at 7 o'clock on Saturday morning. The week had been a long one in WBBA office and she hadn't slept but half of her sleep deprivation yet.
"Director", she thought and looked the screen with dizzy eyes. "I should have switched it off."
It was not the first time her over-enthusiastic boss had called her on unearthly hours or on her holidays. With a sigh she lifted the phone on her ear.
"Yes, director, good morning."
"Good morning, Hikaru. I hope I didn't wake you up?"
"Well, umm..." She didn't need to lie because Ryo didn't have time to listen – as always.
"I have great news. Listen, ..."
With the phone on her ear Hikaru scrambled out of the bed and headed to the kitchen. She was used to make breakfast half-asleep and with one hand while listening the marvellous ideas and stories of her boss.
"Yes... yes... I see..."
The smell of coffee finally made her eyes open. She picked up her clothes and hoped Ryo would stop talking soon and let her go to the bathroom.
"..., and that's the reason I need you to order all the necessary equipments for them as soon as possible.", he ended, a bit out of breath.
"Yes, of course, director. I'll be there in less than an hour."
"That's great. I knew I could trust you. See you soon!"
With another sigh (or was it the fifth one?) Hikaru set the phone on the table. She would have to check the facts over again when she got to the office. Right now there was a hilarious mishmash in her head concerning lost and found beys, expeditions, tents and supplies and ancient kingdoms.
"I need a long, hot shower right now", she thought. "Thank heavens I'm not the one who's going to leave on that trip!"
While sitting in an underground she tried to organize the facts she managed to recall. Equipments for a week's hiking on a mountain for three persons. Who were those three? She shut her eyes and heard the director's voice again in her ears.
Tsubasa, of course. The Eagle was director's right hand as well as herself, even more so when there was something to do outside of the WBBA building. But Kyoya? The rebellious and sullen wildcat, why he and not Gingka? The question puzzled her.
Of course, the boy had been almost bored to death. After the episode in Hades City, Ryo had ordered all Japanese bladers to come back to Metal City, saying he would need them there. Nile, Demure and Team Dungeon had left to their home countries, and the life had went on as usual.
Only to Kyoya, nothing seemed to be as usual.
During the weeks that had followed, Hikaru had noticed many things that proved the Lion was not too happy with the situation. She had watched him in secret so often she could guess where the problem lied: the lonely warrior had finally find himself a team where he belonged and with whom he could improve his skills even farther. Now he missed his team, he missed hard training, he missed something to aspire. He couldn't even challenge Ginka anymore, not until Pegasos was in proper condition again.
Hikaru sighed without noticing it. She wished so much she could have helped the handsome loner somehow, but one fierce look from his clearblue eyes made all her courage vanish in thin air. With an effort she turned her thoughts back to business again.
If she had understood right, the third member of the team would be Kiti, their new acquaintance with boyish appearance and absolutely no background as a blader. Why on earth? And again, why not Gingka, or Benkei? Kenta and Yuu were too young, of course, and Madoka was probably as little willing to participate on the trip as herself. But was there some special reason why Ryo didn't want to send Gingka to the mountains again, or didn't Kyoya want his faithful shadow to come with him? In that case, maybe Kiti was just the next "boy" in the line?
Leaning her head on the window she tried to think another explanation but couldn't find any. She still didn't know Kiti too well, even though they had met several times at the WBBA building when she had come to practice beyblading with Tsubasa. She tried to explain to herself that there had never been time for getting to know each other, but the truth was she didn't even want to. Kiti's presence made her feel uncomfortable.
The girl reminded her too much of her former self, the strong and lone wanderer she had been before her terrifying battle against El Drago. After that battle, after losing her dream, her promise and future as a blader she had wanted to forget everything of the girl to whom those things had been so precious. She had created herself a new attitude, a new goal in life and focused on it with all her might. And she had succeeded so well it seemed now the former appearance never had been more than a rough and artificial shell over her true, more womanly self.
She stared her reflection on the window. A nice dress, beautifully arranged hair, anxious eyes that tried to ignore the nagging question in the back of her head.
Had she betrayed a certain part of her soul?
"This is alright. But why on earth do we need two tents?" Kiti handed the list of equipments back to the blue-dressed secretary, nodding approvingly. "She's really effective!", she thought. In a very short time the girl had produced not only the list of the equipments the team would need, but also the places where to get them on that very day, not to mention the comparison of the prices. But now the bluenette was staring her, looking like she couldn't understand at all what she had meant. Kiti tried to clarify her meaning.
"I mean, the less we have to carry the faster we walk. Wouldn't it be better to have only one tent big enough for us all?"
Hikaru didn't know what to answer. Why it was so difficult for her to deal with this stranger?
"You see... I thought..." she stammered.
A sudden idea flashed in Kiti's brain. She uttered a hilarious giggling just when Ryo walked in the room with Kyoya and Tsubasa on his heels.
"Ryo-san, please tell me the truth: Is my reputation as a chaste young girl gone forever if we take only one tent with us?"
Ryo blinked and tried to catch the joke. Kiti continued.
"See, I'm not so very particular in which company I sleep, as long as it means sleeping. The less items we have to carry, the better. So why drag a double amount of fabric with us? Unless boys have something against a shared tent?" She glanced a questioning look towards her companions.
Tsubasa shook his head, slightly blushing but obviously amused. Kyoya snorted.
"I'll sleep in the open air!", he blurted. His voice told plainly what he thought about any kind of canvas shelters anyway.
"Yeah, so do I, usually." Kiti answered calmly. "At least, as long as it rains only mosquitoes and birdshit. But I must confess I'm such a silky-ass I do prefer a shelter when it's snowing hard."
Kyoya turned angrily away, but Ryo burst into laughter.
"You little ranger! Go ahead, sleep in a snow drift and eat raw bear meat!"
Hikaru smiled a little uncertain.
"Um... if the list is alright I'll order the items immediately. They should be here in the afternoon."
"Good." Ryo sat by his desk. "In the meantime we check your itinerary and some other things. The train to north leaves at seven."
Tsubasa packed the last items into his bag and looked round the apartment. The plants were watered, Yuu was sent to Kenta and his family (hopefully he got all his necessary things with him), his pet eagle was in care of a person they both trusted... He checked the taps and electronic devices once more and closed the door behind him. The thrill of a new journey made his feet want to move quicker, but he kept his pace normal.
It was so good to get out of the city again! He never felt at home among too many buildings and people, but that couldn't be helped. The only thing that worried him was the little suspicion of Kyoya's willingness to co-operate in certain situations, but he didn't want to think about it right now. With Kiti there shouldn't arise any problems, if only she was strong enough to walk such distances. Luckily she didn't seem to be a person to complain too easily. During their training sessions she had already proved to be both attentive and quick to learn, even to make him feel he wasn't just teaching her, but reminding her about something she had forgotten long ago. He wondered if that had something to do with her intensive training with the harp. Maybe she had developed such an ability to concentrate and absorb things with it she could utilize it when learning other skills as well.
Be it however, that combination of that talented and sensitive musician and a harsh-speaking tomboy interested him. Besides, there had been some coincidences he still didn't know what to think of.
First, her real name. Sini Tuuli Virtanen, "a very, very common name", as she had said. The meaning of it – Blue Wind Little River – had surprised him. It was almost the same than the one of his great-grandmother's, Little Blue River, given to her by her tribe. But maybe those kind of names were common in several cultures.
Then there was that necklace of hers. Hikaru had been the first to pay attention to it, on the day of Kiti's arrival when they were having breakfast in a café near the WBBA office. She had asked if there was some certain meaning in the three little particles of it, a wooden heart and an acorn and feather made of some metal. Because Kiti didn't know anything about the symbolism, Madoka had taken her laptop and started to search for information.
"Hmmm... a heart... an universal symbol of love...", she muttered. Yuu made an enormous yawn.
"Come on, tell us something we don't know!"
"Why the heart is the only item made of wood?" Ryo teased. "I mean, isn't it a bit risky if it catches the fire?" Kiti snorted. Madoka continued to read.
"The acorn... the Celts and Vikings... the life, fertility, immortality,... happiness, success, power, potential,..." The owner of the necklace rolled her eyes.
"Every good thing there is possible to be and some more. Why am I not surprised?"
"The feather... Native Americans... the power of the god of the thunder together with the powers of the wind and air... the truth, speed, light, flying, soaring... By the way, there is an ancient drawing of a feather of an eagle, it looks pretty similar to..."
At that moment Kiti had swallowed her drink into her windpipe and caused a flood on the table by pushing her mug upside down. When they had cleared the mess and she was able to breathe and talk again, it had been time to return to WBBA and the subject had dropped.
All these things were easy to pass as mere coincidences, but he still couldn't forget her puzzled look when she had hold Aquila in her hand for the first time on that very same day. Of course, Aquila was a beautiful bey, and she had never seen any bey so near before, but why it was the only one she had asked to examine closer?
And why had Aquila answered to her howling yesterday?
Nobody else had noticed it then, they had all been staring at her and Kyoya, who seemed to have reacted stronger than anybody else. Besides, it was impossible to them to hear Aquila's voice anyway as long as the bey didn't spin. But how was it possible to anybody to call a constellation that belonged to somebody else? Even more so, when the whole thing had been just a joke to her, she had laughed heartily at their fright.
He didn't want to ask Ryo, or anybody, in fear they wouldn't believe him. The director would probably only tease him about the girl and her "wooden heart", or say that maybe Aquila was only protesting the noise she made. But the shriek he had heard hadn't been a shriek of protest (he knew that kind of sounds only too well), it had been an overjoyed greeting to a friend after a long separation. Aquila's unwilligness to communicate about what had happened had made him even more puzzled, but he didn't want to press the subject. He still knew they could trust each other, whatever happened, and he would get an explanation in due time.
The late afternoon sun sparkled on the windows of the WBBA building when he entered it and directed to Ryo's office. He sighed contently to the thought that this time tomorrow he would be far from the high-rise houses and paved roads. Maybe Kyoya would turn out as a cooperative team-mate after all.