Witch-Bitch

Disclaimer: Only the strangers herein are mine.

1st Warning: this is complete AU.

Author's 1st Note: I am using the first Beyblade Kai for this story (first series), not G-Force or Evolution, although I may use outfits, emotions and other things from my glimpses of the other series.

Author's 2nd Note: for the stories sake, I have made Kai, Rei, Mariah, Becky, Louise, Tessa and Ricky (the last 4 are MINE) all seniors. Any other characters that eventually show up in the story, I will let you know their age and grade pertaining to the storyline.

Note on Fonts:

Bold- definitions, TBC, Text (Mobiles/Cell phones, Books, Signs, etc)

Italic- present thoughts, dreams, emphasis, lyrics, memories

Underlined- chapter title, POV, etc

Chapter 9: Shouldn't, Couldn't, Wouldn't

Her POV

"Rebecca, do you know why you are here?"

Scratch, scratch, scratch…

"You know that I know from your file that you were admitted here because of your self-mutilation and attempted suicide, right? I won't attempt to treat you like a child and sugar-coat the facts."

Like you aren't already with your stupid questions. Scratch, scratch…

Sigh. "I am only trying to get you to understand what you did. nothing else than that understanding and healing." I closed my book. My session was up. I could leave now. And I wanted to. And she knew that. I left without saying a word. I went back to my room, and on my bed was a lone rose, yellow petals rimmed with orange. I put my book on the table and picked it up cautiously, trying to avoid the thorns. And then I noticed something.

All the thorns had been flicked off.

"who's that from?" someone asked behind me. I turned, to see Rei waiting outside my door with a nurse.

"I thought it was from you." but I shrugged at the same time, so I don't know if I spoke it aloud or not.

He smiled softly. why?

His POV

A headache had woken me. The pain was small and just a little bit of a nuisance, but I didn't bother about it too much. It wasn't like something could have happened in the last three hours or so. I checked my watch and I just closed my eyes and sank my head into the pillow in resignation. It was a little after six-fifteen, and I felt like I had been struggling to wake up for longer than that.

And then my alarm went off. I hate Saturdays.

I turned my clock radio on and flicked the light-switch. Only intense light and noise could wake me up after last night. I squinted in the sudden light, stretching my back as I tried to wake the rest of me. I had to get to the Ellipse soon so I could open up for the crazies and the café staff.

An image shot into my head. She was running to her father, sopping wet and wrapped in nothing but a towel. She was feeling guilty and scared. He was lying on a bed, unfocussed but remembering.

"oh fucking hell," I said out loud. I would have to somehow explain to my boss that I had a family emergency. I would have to rope my parents in. it was going to be such a complicated process for so early in the morning. I left my bed and shuffled to the shower. I was so not in the mood for this.

Her POV

I had so much homework, and I still had to call Ricky back, but all I could do was sit in front of my computer and play minesweeper. Mindlessly. I clicked the smiley face way too many times. I thought on what had happened in the doc's office an hour ago.

I was told to wait outside as they checked Kai out. The doctor was kind enough to leave the door open a crack so I could at least hear what was going on. I wasn't making a show of my panic. Kai was acting so out of character on the ride there that my worry had shot up the scale 'cause of fearing that I had really done something so outrageously harmful with my prank, and I guess it really must have shown on my face.

He checked Kai's knock on the head and pronounced that it wasn't a concussion, to my complete relief. I heard him asking Kai to breathe for him, the stethoscope definitely, and then the hiss of the blood pressure armband as it deflated. And then he asked things that I couldn't make out, and- I broke off from my train of thoughts. I was not going to think about it now. What's done is done, and the result of my handiwork was lying on the bed in the next room, totally doped up on migraine and who-knows what else pills.

I was just so tired. I hadn't slept enough last night and Ricky woke me just as I fell asleep. I pushed back my chair, folded my arms on top of the desk and rested my head on them. Just ten minutes to sort out this morning…

His POV

She looked so endearing. She was fast asleep, lying awkwardly on her arms on her desk. A thick strand of honey-bronze hair had drifted down to cross over her nose. It made my heart ache and swell to see her so innocent. And then I sighed softly. I was going to have to wake her now, make her think about what she HAD done this morning to Kai, make her panic over work, and make her vulnerability even worse. I steeled myself for waking her, reaching a hand to her shoulder.

"Becky. Be-cky," I said in a sing-song sort of voice. I hated this. I really HATED my lot in my life. she stirred a bit, and I shook her shoulder gently.

"Becky, you shouldn't fall asleep now, you'll ruin your sleep-cycle," I admonished her. she opened her eyes, looking at me blearily.

"you are such a bastard, you know that?" she said to me, irritation in her voice. I felt a stab in my heart, but just smiled at her.

"why would you say that? I'm saving you from your ever-lurking insomnia," I replied, trying to sound cheerful. I moved away from her as she sat up and stretched.

"yeah, like insomnia wouldn't be a great idea for tonight. I'm not going to do anything today, it just started so fucking badly. Rei," she said suddenly, switching her eyes to mine. "do you think I'm stupid?"

What the hell am I supposed to say to that? She caught me off guard, and my silence was too long. I could see her mind instantly forming an accusation against me.

"Rebecca Kristine, what the hell are you accusing me of? And why such a weird question?" she turned away, too quickly for me to catch the answer in her eyes. She got up from the chair and went to her mirror, staring at her reflection. She squinted at herself before pushing her glasses back on. I felt the crack in her widening. What to do, what to do… I stared at her back.

"I don't know. I just… I tried to play a prank on Kai this morning, and it ended up hurting him, really badly. Am I any better than him? did I even think? It's so unfair, I hate being so confused, and so fucking out of it all the time!" she sniffled, the tears welling in her voice. She roughly pulled her glasses off. I defrosted myself and hurried over to her, putting my arms around her so that my hands held her tightly from the front. She began crying.

"hey, hey, Becky, what's going on?" I said to her. her hands reached up and clutched my arms, while she leaned into my hug, her chin against her chest. I could feel her body shuddering beneath my arms as she cried silently. I had never known her to cry like this, so quietly and so needing physical contact. My chin just touched the top of her head, and I jealously savoured the contact.

"hey," I said softly. She turned her face into my shoulder, squeezing my arms. Her crying seemed to be slackening off. Something was going wrong. I could feel that the barrier between them was getting even wider, and that I wasn't understanding something. or maybe I was refusing to understand it. Becky didn't know it, but she was crying because she had intentionally but unintentionally hurt Kai, just like he had been doing to her all these years, and to her, she could never forgive herself.

"it's not your fault." She shook her head. "no, listen, it isn't your fault, get it? What you did to him could NEVER be as bad as what he does to you, and you mustn't EVER think that you can stoop to that level of stupidity. You are not stupid, you hear me Becky?" I stroked her hair. "I know it's not fair, I know. Just calm down." It seemed to have some effect on her. her shuddering lessened to a shivering and then to nothing. She sniffled, then sighed. And then I did something I didn't even think about until I had done it.

I kissed her neck. I know it seems so small, and so innocent, but in my core, I knew that it was anything but, and she knew it. I enjoyed it, I loved the feel of her skin against my lips. And I knew I should have stopped, but I couldn't, I was so intoxicated by the sensation. I kissed her harder, pushing my lips into her skin, opening my mouth, and I struggled to no avail. my tongue brushed her neck, tasting the mix of her sweat and mint body soap. In a faint line, my tongue just graced her neck.

And then I pulled back, so slowly, letting my lips linger on her skin. I stood there for a second before I pulled away quickly, retracting my arms from her embrace. I turned away from her and just made it to the door, before I heard Becky whisper my name.

I didn't have the strength to turn her away.

Her POV

I took a step towards him, and another. His eyes were on me, they burnt like smelting gold. It seemed as if what he was trying to tell me was to go back, but he looked as if he hungered for me too. I had never been touched like that, I had never been kissed like that, let alone just a kiss on the lips. It told me of so much, and yet I didn't understand any of it. I just felt this ache in my chest. I took another tentative step towards him, and then he rushed at me, grabbing me, almost pulling me off my feet.

His lips took mine and I responded. I felt a need wake in my stomach, and I pushed into the kiss, my hands going around his neck, my fingers in his hair. My lips pulsed the harder he kissed me. I felt like I was going to run out of air, and he pulled back then, just for an instant, enough for both of us to catch a breath, and then he came back. He pulled me into him, his hands pushing at the small of my back, and I felt our chests colliding. He turned his head, and then I felt his mouth open on my closed lips, sucking me in.

I shakily willed myself to open my mouth, and then our tongues were touching, and I felt this enormous ball of heat flare up in my stomach. I think we both moaned at the same time as we embraced each-other. I couldn't help it, I felt my breasts crushing against his chest, and I felt like I was only waking up now, like this was the first true sensation I had ever felt in my life. I felt so limp. His thumb was stroking the hollow of my back, and I must have fallen into him because contact was broken. We were breathing, panting in unison. He looked down at me, his eyes reflecting me in the molten gold glow of his iris'. He looked as if he was in the purest awareness of - love?

He broke away from me suddenly, pulling away all physical contact. I staggered, just managing to grab the chair. He was breathing hard, almost heaving in the air. He looked down at his hands that had just started to shake, and then back at me.

"Rei…" I said softly, my voice nowhere near full strength. He shook his head violently.

"Spirits, what have I DONE? What have I done!" he ended up shouting before exploding out of my room and running out, leaving me so much more confused and broken.

But over the moon.

To be continued…

PO: when I love my characters, sigh…

Rei: you love them too much.

Zicky: let the confusion reign!