Flower_on_thewind: Hi everyone, and thanks for taking your time to read
this little fic of mine. Some notes before we start is that, (1) this has
yaoi, so if you have a problem with that, then please hit your back button
now. (2) This fic contains an odd pairing (Kevin/Rei). If this turns you
off, can you please push your back button now (keep in mind that new and
daring ideas should be given the chance to make themselves heard). (3)
There might me some occ-ness, so please bare with me, for this IS my third
fic I've ever done, and I do have some difficulty getting character
personalities straight. Now with that said and done, Please enjoy^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblades in any sort of way.
*************
Somewhere, surrounded by massive mountain ranges, a lone village stood, tranquil in the bright, beautiful sun. In the outskirts of the small village, five young teens gathered with fierce, determined looks in their eyes. Each held their own respective beyblades in their hands as they stood around a fairly large stadium.
They called themselves...
The White Tigers...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Until You Catch Me Chapter: 1
By Flower_on_thewind
"I'll beat you this time!!" Cried Lee with a fairly confident smirk.
"You wish!" Was the reply before Rei called his beyblade to perform his White Tiger attack. The attack promptly took out Lee's beyblade in one swift movement.
"Aww, man!" Lee looked discourage for a second before beaming his confident smirk once more. "I'll beat you one day. I swear!"
A soft giggle was heard behind Lee.
"Come off it, Lee. You know that NOBODY is better than Rei!" Mariah exclaimed.
A flash of jealousy flash across Lee's eyes before they were covered up by determination.
"One day, I'll beat Rei and the whole village will know about it!"
"Yep, and until that day, you are going to have to practice harder." Rei said cheerfully.
The youths continued on with their activities until the smallest and youngest one remembered something quite important...
"OH NO!!!" Kevin exclaimed while drawing curious looks within the group. "Gary, you big dufus! You left my friggin bag in the bakery while we were stealing those buns!! Now they'll know for sure it was me!!!"
Kevin started to freak out and was practically running in circles while Gary was staring into space and drooling a little. He was reminiscing about the delicious bread he ate only hours ago. The sight was pretty funny which drew fits of laughter from the rest of the group.
"Oh God, oh God. I'm dead, I'm dead!!!! DEAD I TELL YOU!! DEAD!!!!!!"
"Calm down Kevin!" Rei sputtered out between fits of laughter. "I'm sure Mr. Leung won't do anything to you but yell at ya. Like he did last time."
Kevin suddenly stopped running around in circles. His eyes went wide with fear.
"Holy crap. You're wrong, Rei! He's going to come after me with his rolling pin!!!!!!"
Kevin resumed running around, but this time his hands were flailing about in crazed manner.
"CRAP, I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I don't wanna die!! I'm too young to die!!" Kevin didn't see where he was going and promptly smacked into a tree face first. There was a moment nothing happened before Kevin detached himself from the tree while clutching his nose in pain.
"OW!! Goddamnit! Shit!! That was smart, ow!!!"
"Stop it Kevin!!!" Lee choked out. "Before somebody craps in their pants!!"
Kevin did calm down (still holding his nose), but was still in his panic mode. Everyone else settled down but still had aching stomachs (minus Gary who was too busy daydreaming about food to notice what was going on).
"Well, you shouldn't have stolen those buns in the first place." Mariah scolded in a rather motherly tone. "What made you do it in the first place?"
"Well...Gary wanted something to eat, and I was bored. He didn't have any money and I didn't do ANYTHING for two whole hours!!! ...heh heh heh it was fun though! And I was *sure* I wouldn't get us caught this time until I remembered that I gave Gary my bag so I could sneak into the air vent to get inside. When I got inside, I unlocked the door and got Gary inside, Gary went crazy. I swear!! I had no control over him! He went right into the pastry section and ate everything in sight!! He dropped my bag while terrorizing the place and EVERYTHING scattered everywhere. Then we heard Mr. Leung was coming. So we grabbed as all the stuff we could and high tailed it outta there."
"Wait a minute...YOU NEVER TOLD US THAT OUR LUNCHES WERE STOLEN!!!" Lee exploded. He was totally against Kevin's hobby of stealing, but tolerated it for the sake of their friendship.
"Lee, calm down." Rei said calmly. "Kevin, we'll get your bag back, but I think you should stick with the shadows for awhile or until your parents find out about this."
Kevin's eyes went wide. He silently thought, 'OH NO!!! My parents are going to find out... I'm in trouble...'
"Rei's right." Mariah agreed quickly. "Come on! Let's get Kevin's bag right now while Mr. Leung is busy hunting Kevin down. Let's go, Gary! We're going to the bakery!"
"Mmm" Gary licked his lips in anticipation. "More bread."
"Gee, thanks guys. You guys are the best." Kevin said in a timid tone.
"Well, duuuh." Mariah rolled her eyes. "We're friends and further more, we are the White Tigers! White Tigers ALWAYS stick together through thick and thin."
"Mariah's right." Lee agreed. "Being a White Tiger means that you have to be honorable to your teammates and to your clan. We would never leave each other in any situation. Ever."
There were nods of agreement around the group except for one particular member whose happy expression earlier had now faded to a sad, knowing look. No one noticed Rei's unhappy look... well, maybe one person...
Kevin gave Rei a curious look. For a minute there, Rei had the saddest expression on his face that Kevin had ever seen. 'What's up with that?'
"Come on you guys! The quicker we get there, the chances of getting there before Mr. Leung sees us will be better!" Mariah called before going into a sprint.
"Hey wait up!" Lee exclaimed before running after the pink hair girl.
"Are ya coming or what Rei?" Kevin asked which brought Rei out of whatever thought was on his mind.
"Yeah, let's go." With that, the rest of the group followed the sprinters.
*******The next day*******
"Holy cow, I never seen Mr. Leung so pissed." Mariah commented while leaning against the back wall of the Grocery.
The whole gang was practicing in the alley behind the Grocery store. Kevin, oddly enough, was the only member missing. This led to the current topic of conversation.
"Hey, where's Kevin?" Lee asked while launching his blade into the stadium once more.
"Umm...The last thing I heard from him were his screams that echoed down the street." Rei admitted while recalling the previous night...
~~~ flash back ~~~
"Hello Rei, how was your day today?" Rei's mom asked when he came home.
"It was okay." Rei sat down on the Kitchen table with a half eaten banana.
"Mmm hmm, oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask you. Have you seen Kevin today?"
Rei froze in mid bite. 'uh oh...'
"I had the most interesting visit with Mr. Leung today." His mom continued. "He was really angry and was asking around the neighborhood for Kevin. You haven't seen him have you?"
"Um...I can't really...say..." Rei stuttered out.
Suddenly they heard a shrill scream coming from up the block. It distinctly sounded like Kevin's voice...
Both Rei and his mom developed large sweatdrops on their faces.
"I guess Mr. Leung found Kevin..." Rei stated a bit worriedly.
Then they heard another scream from up the block.
"AHHHH!!!!! I DIDN'T DO NOTHING!! OUCH!! HONEST! OW! WOULD YOU STOP PUMMELING ME!"
Rei bolted out of the house to see what was happening to his fellow teammate. What he saw was a VERY scared Kevin running for his life down the street and a angry fat man running after him with a... rolling pin?
"It's time I teach you something about something about stealing you ungrateful little brat!" Mr. Leung bellowed while raising his rolling pin high above his head.
Rei had an uneasy smile on his face. Poor Kevin...
"OW!!! HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SWINGING THAT THING YOU FAT PIG!! OW!!!!!!"
"FAT PIG!?!?!?! WHY YOU LITTLE..."
~~~ End flash back~~~
"Ouch..." Lee muttered in sympathy. Oh sure, it was what Kevin deserved, but you can't help feeling sorry for the little guy.
Just then, Kevin rounded the corner to the alleyway entrance. He looked a little flustered and his bangs that were usually tucked behind his ears was now covering half of his face (A/N: I know this is probably not true...but bear with me for the sake of the fic), giving him a more mysterious look. Other than those two changes, he looked perfectly fine.
"Hey guys, what's shakin'?"
"Hey, Kevin, what's up with the new bangs?" Mariah asked curiously.
Kevin's exposed eye looked at the hair that covered the other.
"I don't know, I thought it'll make me look more cool." He gave a careless shrug before pulling out his beyblade. "So who wants to go against the little shrimp?"
"Mmm shrimp..." Gary started to drool. Everyone else sweatdroped with embarrassment at their friend's reaction to the word 'shrimp'.
"I'll... take that as a challenge..." Kevin said uneasily. He cast a quick look at what the others were doing before approaching the stadium. Gary was still drooling, but pulled out his beyblade nonetheless. Lee and Mariah were taking their blades apart- trying out a new combination Kevin guessed. And Rei... Rei was staring at Kevin with an odd expression. Kevin couldn't decipher what it was... but it wasn't normal. Before Kevin could figure it out, he was reminded of the battle he and Gary were about to commence.
"Okay, Gary. This is for the bakery incident yesterday." Kevin sneered before readying himself for battle.
"Mmm...bread... Can you go back and get me more after the battle?"
Kevin fell to the floor anime style.
"ARE YOU NUTS!?!?!" Kevin screamed. "ARGH! Let's just battle."
Rei chuckled at his teammates antics and observed the battle quietly. He was certainly going to miss them...
Later on that day, the White Tiger team was hanging out at Lee's house. Lee's grandfather had just passed Driger to Rei the week before and Lee was still a bit jealous because of it. Thus, Lee was a bit touchy of the subject and Rei felt bad about the whole thing. With this all said and done... guess what the current subject was?
"What was my grandpa thinking!?!?" Lee cried when his grandfather was out of the house.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure there's a reason why he gave it to me and not to you. And I'm sure that it's NOT because he likes me more than you."
"Oh? And you know my Grandfather more than me now? Just because he gave you the White Tiger? Just because he thought you were worthy of carrying out OUR heritage?"
"Lee, don't be jealous. I thought you meant what you said about no hard feelings."
"I did! And I still do! It just... I... when the hell am I going to get a friggin bit beast?!?!?
"Oh come on Lee, you'll get your bit beast soon." Rei reassured his best friend.
"Oh shut up. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Lee spat out.
"Yeah right, you don't. I bet you want to bitch about how life's not fair."
"I THOUGHT I SAID THAT I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!!!"
"Fine, Lee. What do you want to talk about then." Rei shot out.
"Can't you two get along!?!?!" Mariah suddenly cried out. She was getting tired of Lee's complaining and Rei attempts to make Lee feel better. It was getting kinda lame. "I'm sick of you guys' stupid bantering!! It's getting stupid!"
"I'd have to agree with Mariah." Kevin stated. "When you guys are going to talk about something worth listening to, come get me outside." With that he turned to leave the room, but smacked into the wall instead. The result was the entire white Tiger team laughing at the funny scene.
"ACK!! Stupid hair!!" he clutched the side of his face where the hair covered.
"Why don't you go back to your old hair style?" Rei suggested while watching his friend clutch the side of his head in a great deal pain.
"Naw, I'm just peachy." Was Kevin's quick reply before hurrying out of the room.
Rei grew silent. There was something not right about Kevin's behavior, and he didn't like it.
With Kevin gone, and Lee still somber from laughing so hard, Mariah thought it was a great opportunity to ask Rei something.
"Hey, Rei. You know that dance that'll be coming up in a few weeks?"
"Yeah, what about it, Mariah?"
Mariah turned a little bashful... "Do you think you will go with me?"
Rei's face went from a healthy peach colour to a ghastly shade of white. This was not something he wanted to hear... not so close to the day he'll leave...
"I-I'm sorry, Mariah. You know that I hate dances."
"But you promised me on my birthday that you'll take me the next time there will be a dance!! You PROMISED!!"
"Well, I'm sorry Mariah, but I can't take you." Little did the notice that the other two occupants became silent and were watching the conversation intently. And little did any of them know that one more person was listening from the other side of the door...
"You mean you don't WANT to take me." Mariah's voice quivered.
Rei was about to say no, when he realized he couldn't... why? Well because it was true. He didn't want to take Mariah for reasons of his own...
"I guess I don't..."
"But, you promised..." Mariah uttered in disbelief.
"I-I'm sorry, Mariah. I just...I just can't."
Mariah couldn't take it. Rei PROMISED her! She ran out of the door, nearly knocking down Kevin in the process. Why didn't Rei want to take her? Why?
"That was cruel, Rei." Lee said out flat before rushing out to comfort the only female in the team.
Rei knew that it was very mean of him... but he couldn't lie. He turned to Gary who was rubbing his chin thoughtfully (which was a very rare sight). Suddenly, Gary started to chuckle good heartedly.
"What's so funny, Gary?"
Gary shook his head. "I smell love in the air... that's what's funny." Rei sweadropped at the odd comment. "I don't think Lee would want to see you when he comes back."
Rei took the hint and left the house in a bit of a daze. What just happen back there? How did the whole team just fall apart within a few minutes? THIS WAS ALL SO CRAZY!! Deciding that he needed to be alone to think, he jumped onto the roof of none other then the (gasp) bakery.
It was night now. The sky was clear, allowing the stars to shine like diamonds brightly in the dark. The quarter moon was up high giving everything a silvery gleam. Some people would say that this particular night was romantic; others would just say it was peaceful. To Rei, the night was perfect for someone deep in thought.
What had happened? Rei knew that Mariah had a crush on him, but he didn't see her like that... in fact, he didn't see any girls like that! It was odd... He just... never felt THAT way to anyone of the female kind...
Just then, he heard someone plop softly on top of the roof as well. Rei spun around to see Kevin looking quiet angry.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Kevin asked harshly. Rei winced at the tone the smaller boy used.
"You know full well how she feels about you! If you wanted to say know, you COULD have said it in a nicer way."
"I know very well that I could have said it in a nicer way." Rei snapped, surprising Kevin in the process. Rei wasn't the type to snap often. He was usually the relaxed and out going one in the group.
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because..." Rei trailed off. "I couldn't lie to her."
"Well, you STILL could have said it *nicer*." Kevin said in a defeated tone.
"I know..." Rei then noticed that there was a slight breeze in the air. He looked at Kevin, who was still wearing shorts. Kevin shivered slightly at the cold wind, but stood his ground.
"Hey, maybe you should go home, Kevin." Rei suggested. He didn't want to be the cause of getting one of his friends sick.
"Naw, I'm fine." Suddenly a stronger gust of wind blew, causing Kevin's bangs to fly upwards. What Rei saw shocked him to the core. The whole left side of Kevin's face was purple, black and blue. His eye was almost swollen shut, and a band-aid was placed on his cheek.
Kevin quickly patted down his bangs in place.
"Um...uh...windy night, huh?" He squeaked in a panicky tone. "Maybe I should get going..."
"Wait Kevin!" Rei quickly put a hand on Kevin's shoulder to prevent him from leaving. This wasn't a good action, for Kevin tensed and yelped in pain.
"AHH!!! ahh, ah... Don't touch me there!" he recoiled a little.
"Kevin! What happened? Who did this to you!!??!?!"
"Oh, uh... this little bruise? I had a little accident involving my...er... dog! T-that's all!"
Crap... that didn't come out right...
Rei shook his head sadly. If the situation weren't so serious, he would have laughed a bit.
"Kevin, you don't have a dog. Your dog died when we were eight. Remember?"
"Oh yeah... I guess I kinda forgot about that." Kevin scratched the back of his head and laughed uneasily at his mistake.
Rei suddenly became serious again. He knew that Mr. Leung's punishments were hash, but he'd never thought that he would consider to hitting someone THAT hard...
"It wasn't Mr. Leung, was it?" Rei asked suspiciously.
"No! Of course not!! Mr. Leung, he...well... umm..."
"It WAS him then!!!" Rei got angry. All White Tiger's stuck together through thick and thin and always returned the favor if ANYONE in their group were seriously hurt.
"NO! It wasn't!!...Okay, so he did smack me with the rolling pin... I'm sure you saw that yesterday, but you KNOW that he wouldn't do anything that REALLY hurt us!! So before you go and jump to conclusions, leave Mr. Leung out of this!!" Kevin's face was serious and... Scared???
"...So you were hit by someone then." Rei slowly concluded. Kevin's expression flickered for a moment.
"NO!!!...well, yes...er, no wait, NO! Imeanyes, uh... Argh!!!!" Kevin was starting to panic. "Okay, Yes. Mr. Leung did hit me, but... ARGH stop confusing me!!!!!!!"
Rei frowned. Kevin's reaction made his suspicions flare up like a candle. If he could only see Kevin's injuries closer...
"Kevin... Why can't you just tell me what happened." Rei stepped forward to brush Kevin's bangs away from his face. Kevin backed off as soon as Rei touched him.
"Heh, it's nothing Rei! I don't know why you're so worried! "
"Then why won't you let me look at your face?"
"Well... My face kinda ugly right now. I don't want you to see it..."
Rei shook his head. What was Kevin hiding? "Kevin, I don't care if you think your face is ugly. I'm worried about YOU. Not your face."
"..."Kevin didn't know what to say. He was afraid of Rei at that very moment. He didn't have a clue on what to do!
Kevin reluctantly obliged knowing that Rei was stronger, bigger, and possibly fastet than him. Running wouldn't get him far... Kevin found that out the hard way.
Rei once again brushed Kevin's hair tenderly to the side so that he wouldn't hurt Kevin, but Kevin flinched anyways because Rei had to see his beat up face.
"How did this happen?" Rei asked sternly. Kevin didn't dare go against Rei when he used that particular voice. Rei could be quite scary at times.
"I got beat up." Kevin squeaked.
"By who?" Rei's anger escalated. Who ever had beaten up his teammate was going to pay. Tiger's honor.
"I-I can't say!" Kevin blurted out. If anyone knew, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
"Kevin!! Why can't you trust me? I'm one of your friends!"
"I do trust you, Rei!! It just that..." A lump started to form in Kevin's throat.
"What?" Rei snapped. He was getting impatient.
"M-My dad..." Kevin choked out. "H-he got angry w-when Mr. Leung told him w-what happened and he w-went a-and gave me m-my pun-punishment."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Rei demanded. No one hurts a White Tiger and gets away with it. Adult or not!
"Heh, it's my life..." Kevin said almost modestly.
Rei didn't say anything to that comment. Did Kevin get hit often? He really didn't want to know. He gingerly brushed his thumb against the smaller boy's bruised cheek.
Suddenly, Rei felt this odd feeling flare up within him. He never felt this way before. He felt this sudden urge to protect Kevin with everything he had. It was a weird sensation that was totally new to him. Suddenly, Kevin seemed totally different in the moonlight. He wasn't the rough, though, thief that didn't care if he was caught. This Kevin was afraid and seemed much more vulnerable to the pains of life.
Rei forced himself to snap out of it. This was Kevin he was thinking about. His friend. Rei took a step away from Kevin to make sure he didn't do something weird. At the moment, Rei wasn't sure if he could trust his own actions...
"Did you put medicine on it?"
"Heh, you bet! I'm not THAT stupid, you know." Kevin's good eye narrowed at the accusation.
"Hey, I'm just making sure that you're okay." Kevin let out an exasperated groan.
"I'm not some helpless puppy! I know how to take care of myself!" He puffed out his small form in attempts to look bigger and stronger.
"Oh suuuure, and that's why you stole some bread AND got yourself one nasty punishment." Kevin's expression went from a little annoyed to being out right pissed off.
"Hey! I resent that!"
Rei sighed... what was with him today? "Sorry, Kevin. I'm on everyone's case today."
Kevin scoffed. "You can say that again." His angry expression suddenly softened. "I'll cut ya some slack today. You seem sorry enough." He turned to face the moon. "Dang, it's already so late! My mom's going to freak!"
Rei suddenly remembered he was due to go home a whole hour ago. "Crap! My mom's going to kill me!" He was about to jump off the roof when a smaller hand grabbed on to his arm.
"Hey Rei, can you do me a favor?" Kevin' asked in a serious tone. Kevin was hardly ever serious, so Rei couldn't help but have all ears on to what Kevin was about to say.
"Can you... keep my injuries a secret? I don't want people to know about my dad." He stared intently at Rei, waiting for an answer.
Rei hesitated. He didn't like keeping such a horrible secret from everyone, but the way Kevin was staring at him was very convincing.
"Okay, Kevin. I promise to keep your secret. White Tiger's honor."
Kevin cheered up considerably. "Great! I'll see ya at school tomorrow!" With that Kevin leaped off the building and headed home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Flower_on_thewind: Heh... a little rushed in some parts, but it's a start! Anyways, I want to know what you thought of this as a reader. So please Review!! I want to know if you liked it, hated it, etc. Anyways, enough of my jabbering and I thank you once more for your time!
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblades in any sort of way.
*************
Somewhere, surrounded by massive mountain ranges, a lone village stood, tranquil in the bright, beautiful sun. In the outskirts of the small village, five young teens gathered with fierce, determined looks in their eyes. Each held their own respective beyblades in their hands as they stood around a fairly large stadium.
They called themselves...
The White Tigers...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Until You Catch Me Chapter: 1
By Flower_on_thewind
"I'll beat you this time!!" Cried Lee with a fairly confident smirk.
"You wish!" Was the reply before Rei called his beyblade to perform his White Tiger attack. The attack promptly took out Lee's beyblade in one swift movement.
"Aww, man!" Lee looked discourage for a second before beaming his confident smirk once more. "I'll beat you one day. I swear!"
A soft giggle was heard behind Lee.
"Come off it, Lee. You know that NOBODY is better than Rei!" Mariah exclaimed.
A flash of jealousy flash across Lee's eyes before they were covered up by determination.
"One day, I'll beat Rei and the whole village will know about it!"
"Yep, and until that day, you are going to have to practice harder." Rei said cheerfully.
The youths continued on with their activities until the smallest and youngest one remembered something quite important...
"OH NO!!!" Kevin exclaimed while drawing curious looks within the group. "Gary, you big dufus! You left my friggin bag in the bakery while we were stealing those buns!! Now they'll know for sure it was me!!!"
Kevin started to freak out and was practically running in circles while Gary was staring into space and drooling a little. He was reminiscing about the delicious bread he ate only hours ago. The sight was pretty funny which drew fits of laughter from the rest of the group.
"Oh God, oh God. I'm dead, I'm dead!!!! DEAD I TELL YOU!! DEAD!!!!!!"
"Calm down Kevin!" Rei sputtered out between fits of laughter. "I'm sure Mr. Leung won't do anything to you but yell at ya. Like he did last time."
Kevin suddenly stopped running around in circles. His eyes went wide with fear.
"Holy crap. You're wrong, Rei! He's going to come after me with his rolling pin!!!!!!"
Kevin resumed running around, but this time his hands were flailing about in crazed manner.
"CRAP, I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I don't wanna die!! I'm too young to die!!" Kevin didn't see where he was going and promptly smacked into a tree face first. There was a moment nothing happened before Kevin detached himself from the tree while clutching his nose in pain.
"OW!! Goddamnit! Shit!! That was smart, ow!!!"
"Stop it Kevin!!!" Lee choked out. "Before somebody craps in their pants!!"
Kevin did calm down (still holding his nose), but was still in his panic mode. Everyone else settled down but still had aching stomachs (minus Gary who was too busy daydreaming about food to notice what was going on).
"Well, you shouldn't have stolen those buns in the first place." Mariah scolded in a rather motherly tone. "What made you do it in the first place?"
"Well...Gary wanted something to eat, and I was bored. He didn't have any money and I didn't do ANYTHING for two whole hours!!! ...heh heh heh it was fun though! And I was *sure* I wouldn't get us caught this time until I remembered that I gave Gary my bag so I could sneak into the air vent to get inside. When I got inside, I unlocked the door and got Gary inside, Gary went crazy. I swear!! I had no control over him! He went right into the pastry section and ate everything in sight!! He dropped my bag while terrorizing the place and EVERYTHING scattered everywhere. Then we heard Mr. Leung was coming. So we grabbed as all the stuff we could and high tailed it outta there."
"Wait a minute...YOU NEVER TOLD US THAT OUR LUNCHES WERE STOLEN!!!" Lee exploded. He was totally against Kevin's hobby of stealing, but tolerated it for the sake of their friendship.
"Lee, calm down." Rei said calmly. "Kevin, we'll get your bag back, but I think you should stick with the shadows for awhile or until your parents find out about this."
Kevin's eyes went wide. He silently thought, 'OH NO!!! My parents are going to find out... I'm in trouble...'
"Rei's right." Mariah agreed quickly. "Come on! Let's get Kevin's bag right now while Mr. Leung is busy hunting Kevin down. Let's go, Gary! We're going to the bakery!"
"Mmm" Gary licked his lips in anticipation. "More bread."
"Gee, thanks guys. You guys are the best." Kevin said in a timid tone.
"Well, duuuh." Mariah rolled her eyes. "We're friends and further more, we are the White Tigers! White Tigers ALWAYS stick together through thick and thin."
"Mariah's right." Lee agreed. "Being a White Tiger means that you have to be honorable to your teammates and to your clan. We would never leave each other in any situation. Ever."
There were nods of agreement around the group except for one particular member whose happy expression earlier had now faded to a sad, knowing look. No one noticed Rei's unhappy look... well, maybe one person...
Kevin gave Rei a curious look. For a minute there, Rei had the saddest expression on his face that Kevin had ever seen. 'What's up with that?'
"Come on you guys! The quicker we get there, the chances of getting there before Mr. Leung sees us will be better!" Mariah called before going into a sprint.
"Hey wait up!" Lee exclaimed before running after the pink hair girl.
"Are ya coming or what Rei?" Kevin asked which brought Rei out of whatever thought was on his mind.
"Yeah, let's go." With that, the rest of the group followed the sprinters.
*******The next day*******
"Holy cow, I never seen Mr. Leung so pissed." Mariah commented while leaning against the back wall of the Grocery.
The whole gang was practicing in the alley behind the Grocery store. Kevin, oddly enough, was the only member missing. This led to the current topic of conversation.
"Hey, where's Kevin?" Lee asked while launching his blade into the stadium once more.
"Umm...The last thing I heard from him were his screams that echoed down the street." Rei admitted while recalling the previous night...
~~~ flash back ~~~
"Hello Rei, how was your day today?" Rei's mom asked when he came home.
"It was okay." Rei sat down on the Kitchen table with a half eaten banana.
"Mmm hmm, oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask you. Have you seen Kevin today?"
Rei froze in mid bite. 'uh oh...'
"I had the most interesting visit with Mr. Leung today." His mom continued. "He was really angry and was asking around the neighborhood for Kevin. You haven't seen him have you?"
"Um...I can't really...say..." Rei stuttered out.
Suddenly they heard a shrill scream coming from up the block. It distinctly sounded like Kevin's voice...
Both Rei and his mom developed large sweatdrops on their faces.
"I guess Mr. Leung found Kevin..." Rei stated a bit worriedly.
Then they heard another scream from up the block.
"AHHHH!!!!! I DIDN'T DO NOTHING!! OUCH!! HONEST! OW! WOULD YOU STOP PUMMELING ME!"
Rei bolted out of the house to see what was happening to his fellow teammate. What he saw was a VERY scared Kevin running for his life down the street and a angry fat man running after him with a... rolling pin?
"It's time I teach you something about something about stealing you ungrateful little brat!" Mr. Leung bellowed while raising his rolling pin high above his head.
Rei had an uneasy smile on his face. Poor Kevin...
"OW!!! HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SWINGING THAT THING YOU FAT PIG!! OW!!!!!!"
"FAT PIG!?!?!?! WHY YOU LITTLE..."
~~~ End flash back~~~
"Ouch..." Lee muttered in sympathy. Oh sure, it was what Kevin deserved, but you can't help feeling sorry for the little guy.
Just then, Kevin rounded the corner to the alleyway entrance. He looked a little flustered and his bangs that were usually tucked behind his ears was now covering half of his face (A/N: I know this is probably not true...but bear with me for the sake of the fic), giving him a more mysterious look. Other than those two changes, he looked perfectly fine.
"Hey guys, what's shakin'?"
"Hey, Kevin, what's up with the new bangs?" Mariah asked curiously.
Kevin's exposed eye looked at the hair that covered the other.
"I don't know, I thought it'll make me look more cool." He gave a careless shrug before pulling out his beyblade. "So who wants to go against the little shrimp?"
"Mmm shrimp..." Gary started to drool. Everyone else sweatdroped with embarrassment at their friend's reaction to the word 'shrimp'.
"I'll... take that as a challenge..." Kevin said uneasily. He cast a quick look at what the others were doing before approaching the stadium. Gary was still drooling, but pulled out his beyblade nonetheless. Lee and Mariah were taking their blades apart- trying out a new combination Kevin guessed. And Rei... Rei was staring at Kevin with an odd expression. Kevin couldn't decipher what it was... but it wasn't normal. Before Kevin could figure it out, he was reminded of the battle he and Gary were about to commence.
"Okay, Gary. This is for the bakery incident yesterday." Kevin sneered before readying himself for battle.
"Mmm...bread... Can you go back and get me more after the battle?"
Kevin fell to the floor anime style.
"ARE YOU NUTS!?!?!" Kevin screamed. "ARGH! Let's just battle."
Rei chuckled at his teammates antics and observed the battle quietly. He was certainly going to miss them...
Later on that day, the White Tiger team was hanging out at Lee's house. Lee's grandfather had just passed Driger to Rei the week before and Lee was still a bit jealous because of it. Thus, Lee was a bit touchy of the subject and Rei felt bad about the whole thing. With this all said and done... guess what the current subject was?
"What was my grandpa thinking!?!?" Lee cried when his grandfather was out of the house.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure there's a reason why he gave it to me and not to you. And I'm sure that it's NOT because he likes me more than you."
"Oh? And you know my Grandfather more than me now? Just because he gave you the White Tiger? Just because he thought you were worthy of carrying out OUR heritage?"
"Lee, don't be jealous. I thought you meant what you said about no hard feelings."
"I did! And I still do! It just... I... when the hell am I going to get a friggin bit beast?!?!?
"Oh come on Lee, you'll get your bit beast soon." Rei reassured his best friend.
"Oh shut up. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Lee spat out.
"Yeah right, you don't. I bet you want to bitch about how life's not fair."
"I THOUGHT I SAID THAT I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!!!"
"Fine, Lee. What do you want to talk about then." Rei shot out.
"Can't you two get along!?!?!" Mariah suddenly cried out. She was getting tired of Lee's complaining and Rei attempts to make Lee feel better. It was getting kinda lame. "I'm sick of you guys' stupid bantering!! It's getting stupid!"
"I'd have to agree with Mariah." Kevin stated. "When you guys are going to talk about something worth listening to, come get me outside." With that he turned to leave the room, but smacked into the wall instead. The result was the entire white Tiger team laughing at the funny scene.
"ACK!! Stupid hair!!" he clutched the side of his face where the hair covered.
"Why don't you go back to your old hair style?" Rei suggested while watching his friend clutch the side of his head in a great deal pain.
"Naw, I'm just peachy." Was Kevin's quick reply before hurrying out of the room.
Rei grew silent. There was something not right about Kevin's behavior, and he didn't like it.
With Kevin gone, and Lee still somber from laughing so hard, Mariah thought it was a great opportunity to ask Rei something.
"Hey, Rei. You know that dance that'll be coming up in a few weeks?"
"Yeah, what about it, Mariah?"
Mariah turned a little bashful... "Do you think you will go with me?"
Rei's face went from a healthy peach colour to a ghastly shade of white. This was not something he wanted to hear... not so close to the day he'll leave...
"I-I'm sorry, Mariah. You know that I hate dances."
"But you promised me on my birthday that you'll take me the next time there will be a dance!! You PROMISED!!"
"Well, I'm sorry Mariah, but I can't take you." Little did the notice that the other two occupants became silent and were watching the conversation intently. And little did any of them know that one more person was listening from the other side of the door...
"You mean you don't WANT to take me." Mariah's voice quivered.
Rei was about to say no, when he realized he couldn't... why? Well because it was true. He didn't want to take Mariah for reasons of his own...
"I guess I don't..."
"But, you promised..." Mariah uttered in disbelief.
"I-I'm sorry, Mariah. I just...I just can't."
Mariah couldn't take it. Rei PROMISED her! She ran out of the door, nearly knocking down Kevin in the process. Why didn't Rei want to take her? Why?
"That was cruel, Rei." Lee said out flat before rushing out to comfort the only female in the team.
Rei knew that it was very mean of him... but he couldn't lie. He turned to Gary who was rubbing his chin thoughtfully (which was a very rare sight). Suddenly, Gary started to chuckle good heartedly.
"What's so funny, Gary?"
Gary shook his head. "I smell love in the air... that's what's funny." Rei sweadropped at the odd comment. "I don't think Lee would want to see you when he comes back."
Rei took the hint and left the house in a bit of a daze. What just happen back there? How did the whole team just fall apart within a few minutes? THIS WAS ALL SO CRAZY!! Deciding that he needed to be alone to think, he jumped onto the roof of none other then the (gasp) bakery.
It was night now. The sky was clear, allowing the stars to shine like diamonds brightly in the dark. The quarter moon was up high giving everything a silvery gleam. Some people would say that this particular night was romantic; others would just say it was peaceful. To Rei, the night was perfect for someone deep in thought.
What had happened? Rei knew that Mariah had a crush on him, but he didn't see her like that... in fact, he didn't see any girls like that! It was odd... He just... never felt THAT way to anyone of the female kind...
Just then, he heard someone plop softly on top of the roof as well. Rei spun around to see Kevin looking quiet angry.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Kevin asked harshly. Rei winced at the tone the smaller boy used.
"You know full well how she feels about you! If you wanted to say know, you COULD have said it in a nicer way."
"I know very well that I could have said it in a nicer way." Rei snapped, surprising Kevin in the process. Rei wasn't the type to snap often. He was usually the relaxed and out going one in the group.
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because..." Rei trailed off. "I couldn't lie to her."
"Well, you STILL could have said it *nicer*." Kevin said in a defeated tone.
"I know..." Rei then noticed that there was a slight breeze in the air. He looked at Kevin, who was still wearing shorts. Kevin shivered slightly at the cold wind, but stood his ground.
"Hey, maybe you should go home, Kevin." Rei suggested. He didn't want to be the cause of getting one of his friends sick.
"Naw, I'm fine." Suddenly a stronger gust of wind blew, causing Kevin's bangs to fly upwards. What Rei saw shocked him to the core. The whole left side of Kevin's face was purple, black and blue. His eye was almost swollen shut, and a band-aid was placed on his cheek.
Kevin quickly patted down his bangs in place.
"Um...uh...windy night, huh?" He squeaked in a panicky tone. "Maybe I should get going..."
"Wait Kevin!" Rei quickly put a hand on Kevin's shoulder to prevent him from leaving. This wasn't a good action, for Kevin tensed and yelped in pain.
"AHH!!! ahh, ah... Don't touch me there!" he recoiled a little.
"Kevin! What happened? Who did this to you!!??!?!"
"Oh, uh... this little bruise? I had a little accident involving my...er... dog! T-that's all!"
Crap... that didn't come out right...
Rei shook his head sadly. If the situation weren't so serious, he would have laughed a bit.
"Kevin, you don't have a dog. Your dog died when we were eight. Remember?"
"Oh yeah... I guess I kinda forgot about that." Kevin scratched the back of his head and laughed uneasily at his mistake.
Rei suddenly became serious again. He knew that Mr. Leung's punishments were hash, but he'd never thought that he would consider to hitting someone THAT hard...
"It wasn't Mr. Leung, was it?" Rei asked suspiciously.
"No! Of course not!! Mr. Leung, he...well... umm..."
"It WAS him then!!!" Rei got angry. All White Tiger's stuck together through thick and thin and always returned the favor if ANYONE in their group were seriously hurt.
"NO! It wasn't!!...Okay, so he did smack me with the rolling pin... I'm sure you saw that yesterday, but you KNOW that he wouldn't do anything that REALLY hurt us!! So before you go and jump to conclusions, leave Mr. Leung out of this!!" Kevin's face was serious and... Scared???
"...So you were hit by someone then." Rei slowly concluded. Kevin's expression flickered for a moment.
"NO!!!...well, yes...er, no wait, NO! Imeanyes, uh... Argh!!!!" Kevin was starting to panic. "Okay, Yes. Mr. Leung did hit me, but... ARGH stop confusing me!!!!!!!"
Rei frowned. Kevin's reaction made his suspicions flare up like a candle. If he could only see Kevin's injuries closer...
"Kevin... Why can't you just tell me what happened." Rei stepped forward to brush Kevin's bangs away from his face. Kevin backed off as soon as Rei touched him.
"Heh, it's nothing Rei! I don't know why you're so worried! "
"Then why won't you let me look at your face?"
"Well... My face kinda ugly right now. I don't want you to see it..."
Rei shook his head. What was Kevin hiding? "Kevin, I don't care if you think your face is ugly. I'm worried about YOU. Not your face."
"..."Kevin didn't know what to say. He was afraid of Rei at that very moment. He didn't have a clue on what to do!
Kevin reluctantly obliged knowing that Rei was stronger, bigger, and possibly fastet than him. Running wouldn't get him far... Kevin found that out the hard way.
Rei once again brushed Kevin's hair tenderly to the side so that he wouldn't hurt Kevin, but Kevin flinched anyways because Rei had to see his beat up face.
"How did this happen?" Rei asked sternly. Kevin didn't dare go against Rei when he used that particular voice. Rei could be quite scary at times.
"I got beat up." Kevin squeaked.
"By who?" Rei's anger escalated. Who ever had beaten up his teammate was going to pay. Tiger's honor.
"I-I can't say!" Kevin blurted out. If anyone knew, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
"Kevin!! Why can't you trust me? I'm one of your friends!"
"I do trust you, Rei!! It just that..." A lump started to form in Kevin's throat.
"What?" Rei snapped. He was getting impatient.
"M-My dad..." Kevin choked out. "H-he got angry w-when Mr. Leung told him w-what happened and he w-went a-and gave me m-my pun-punishment."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Rei demanded. No one hurts a White Tiger and gets away with it. Adult or not!
"Heh, it's my life..." Kevin said almost modestly.
Rei didn't say anything to that comment. Did Kevin get hit often? He really didn't want to know. He gingerly brushed his thumb against the smaller boy's bruised cheek.
Suddenly, Rei felt this odd feeling flare up within him. He never felt this way before. He felt this sudden urge to protect Kevin with everything he had. It was a weird sensation that was totally new to him. Suddenly, Kevin seemed totally different in the moonlight. He wasn't the rough, though, thief that didn't care if he was caught. This Kevin was afraid and seemed much more vulnerable to the pains of life.
Rei forced himself to snap out of it. This was Kevin he was thinking about. His friend. Rei took a step away from Kevin to make sure he didn't do something weird. At the moment, Rei wasn't sure if he could trust his own actions...
"Did you put medicine on it?"
"Heh, you bet! I'm not THAT stupid, you know." Kevin's good eye narrowed at the accusation.
"Hey, I'm just making sure that you're okay." Kevin let out an exasperated groan.
"I'm not some helpless puppy! I know how to take care of myself!" He puffed out his small form in attempts to look bigger and stronger.
"Oh suuuure, and that's why you stole some bread AND got yourself one nasty punishment." Kevin's expression went from a little annoyed to being out right pissed off.
"Hey! I resent that!"
Rei sighed... what was with him today? "Sorry, Kevin. I'm on everyone's case today."
Kevin scoffed. "You can say that again." His angry expression suddenly softened. "I'll cut ya some slack today. You seem sorry enough." He turned to face the moon. "Dang, it's already so late! My mom's going to freak!"
Rei suddenly remembered he was due to go home a whole hour ago. "Crap! My mom's going to kill me!" He was about to jump off the roof when a smaller hand grabbed on to his arm.
"Hey Rei, can you do me a favor?" Kevin' asked in a serious tone. Kevin was hardly ever serious, so Rei couldn't help but have all ears on to what Kevin was about to say.
"Can you... keep my injuries a secret? I don't want people to know about my dad." He stared intently at Rei, waiting for an answer.
Rei hesitated. He didn't like keeping such a horrible secret from everyone, but the way Kevin was staring at him was very convincing.
"Okay, Kevin. I promise to keep your secret. White Tiger's honor."
Kevin cheered up considerably. "Great! I'll see ya at school tomorrow!" With that Kevin leaped off the building and headed home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Flower_on_thewind: Heh... a little rushed in some parts, but it's a start! Anyways, I want to know what you thought of this as a reader. So please Review!! I want to know if you liked it, hated it, etc. Anyways, enough of my jabbering and I thank you once more for your time!