Perfectly Incompatible

Summary: A few of the mothers from his hometown think it's time for him to settle down, but Michael can't stand the girl they chose for him; Mariasha! What happens when he gets into a fight with Mariasha and ends up lost in a snow storm? Who will come to his rescue?

Pairings: Michael/Kai

Disclaimer: I don't own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Mariasha "Maria" Evans. She is an original character and all likeness to people living or dead is purely coincidental. This character is not on based one anyone else's character design, again if any likeness, it's purely coincidental. There are also minor Ocs in this story as well, eg; Michael's mother and great aunt.

Warnings: Kai is a girl in this story. The use and introduction of a female Original Character. Any fans of OCs and OC pairings should leave now. Anti-OC pairings and blatant bashing of my own character. I created her; I can do what I want with her. And I plan to.

Gripe for the Day: Ugh, Quizilla? Don't ever go to that God-forsaken site, ever! Full of You-Sues and Mary-Sues, nothing else. Grammar, sentence structure, spelling? What's that? I went to that site once and wished so badly that I could get that time back; it literally made me feel sick to the stomach. God, it was terrible!

Oh, and another thing, I've added another forum titled: Worse OC Encounters. Pop by and let me know the worst OC you've ever had the misfortune to stumble across. I might even use them later on ^^

AN: Hello everyone! Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I just wasn't happy with it for some reason, and I'm kinda still squinting at it, so forgive any crappiness.

Nana is quite a dominate character in this chapter as I wanted to show what a real OC should be written like. To me, OCs should be used as support characters with very minor roles only. They should never, ever take the spotlight away from the canon characters as they are the reason we're reading fanfics in the first place, right?

A special thanks to; mimic shalle, DarkBombayAngel, G-Wing Gurl, The Cattan Wolf, CleverPhoenix, Rapunzelle, angelvan105, van, dragonfire7654321, kaitouahiru, marishka91, XxPhoenix-FirexX and Elemental Gypsy for reviewing the last chapter. Over 100 reviews, that is truly amazing, thanks so much for all your support and suggestions. Please, keep them coming. It's so nice to know that there are other amazing readers/authors out there who are sick and tired of the OCs plaguing this fandom as well.

Comments, rants and suggestions are always welcomed with open arms. Don't be afraid to drop me a line at any time. I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Chapter 10:

Watching idly as the scenery flew by, Nana smiled softly to herself as she sat in the passenger seat of her great nephew's car, the said teen chatting away about the very young woman she was on her way to meet.

She had never seen him so happy or excited before, well not for a very long time at the very least.

"I'm sure you'll like her," Michael said as he sent her a quick smile in her direction.

Nana returned the look with a quick nod. Anyone who could make Michael this content and happy must be very special indeed. She simply can't wait to meet this Kai person she has heard so much about, even she was getting anxious and excited, inwardly hurrying this trip along.

And soon enough, Michael slowed the car down and pulled into this long stoned driveway that led to the most beautiful ranch she had ever seen. The ranch house itself was large and well cared for, the green pastures crisp and serene. Oh, she could easily sit out on the front porch and gaze out onto the pastures without a worry in the world.

Her eyes were quickly drawn to the large oak front doors, watching with a sense of anticipation as a young woman of about Michael's age stepped out onto the veranda. She had the most beautiful hair, a soft stormy gray at the front that framed her face and then a deep midnight blue at the back, cascading easily down to the small of her back.

Stunning red eyes filled with a sense of curiosity stared out at her, four bright blue triangles marring the porcelain of her cheeks. The tribal type markings looked rather exotic on her, not gaudy or out of place at all, which was quite surprising as Nana was not overly fond of people doing ridiculous things to themselves for attention.

She wore a long white and blue jumper over a denim skirt and boots made of sheep skin on her feet, a long white scarf wrapped around her neck, trailing over her shoulders. She had her arms folded under her bust in attempt shield herself away from the cold winter chill.

As soon as the car rolled to a stop and he turned the engine off, Michael slipped out of his seat and walked over to the passenger side of his car, opening the door for Nana and helping her to her feet.

"Kai," Michael said with a grin spreading across his lips and an arm around Nana's shoulders as he presented his dear great aunt for Kai to meet. "I would like you to meet Nana."

"Oh!" Kai said in surprise, her eyes immediately widening before a soft smile appeared on her lips and she practically raced down the porch steps to greet them. Nana studied her silently for a moment, watching as Kai approached her with a sense of genuine warmth that she hadn't seen for a long time.

It was quite obvious to her that while this young woman appeared confident, she was also respectful, which Nana immediately liked. She quickly realized that there was indeed something different about this young lady and a sense of fondness and familiarity immediately caused her to feel comfortable.

She was also obviously nothing like Mariasha, thank goodness!

"It's so nice to meet you," Kai said with sincerity as she took a hold of her hands, greeting her with a sense of excitement. "Michael has told me so much about you."

"He has spoken to me about you too, child," Nana replied as she patted the back of Kai's youthful hand with her frail, wrinkly one. "It's a pleasure to finally have a face to a name now."

A light flush appeared on Kai's cheeks as her smile deepened with a sense of warmth. "Come inside," she suggested as she stepped off to the other side of Nana, practically leading her inside. "It's freezing out here. I have the fire going."

Oh, sitting in front of an open fire sounded delightful right about now.

"Make yourselves at home," said Kai as they stepped inside, into the warmth of the ranch. She helped both Michael and Nana out of the large winter coats and hung them up, Michael leading Nana into the lounge room where a chair was situated right next to the fire, the very same seat Michael had his much needed rest in.

"Would anyone like some tea or something to drink?" Kai asked as Nana settled herself into the comfortable seat, already finding herself feeling quite at home.

"Tea would be wonderful," Nana said, noticing from the corner of her eye Michael raising an eyebrow in mild disbelief as, normally, whenever she visited another's home, she always asked for a glass of water as she had a particular way of liking her tea.

She didn't know what it was that Kai did, but she didn't feel like she was an intruder or an unexpected visitor, but a welcomed guest. It was quite an extraordinary feeling as whenever Mariasha was over at home and strutted around like she owned the place, Nana felt like an intruder in her own home.

But this...this was nice.

"I'll be right back," Kai says as she hurried into the kitchen, her posture holding a sense of self-confidence in each step she took. But while she appeared confident, there was not an ounce of arrogance in her demeanour.

Ooh, another plus.

"First impressions?" Michael asked her the moment Kai was out of earshot and took a seat on the coach nearest to her.

Running her hands over the blanket that was now wrapped around her legs, Nana smiled warmly at the eagerness in Michael's voice. From the first moment Michael mentioned his new friend Kai, she knew he was rather fond of her, and from what she has seen so far, she understood clearly.

During her many years she had walked this earth, she had met many a person who tried to act sincere and delightful, but they could never get past her eagle eye. She could tell a fake at a glance, metres away. However suspicious past events had taught her to be, she knew young Kai was sincere in her manner and greetings.

"She seems genuine," she replied honestly, to which Michael's eyes brighten with relief.

Young Kai returned a moment later with their beverages, placing the hot tea into Nana's hands quite carefully, warning her that the tea might be too hot to drink yet and then took a seat next to Michael on the couch. They looked natural sitting together like that, Michael looked calm and content, nothing like the fidgeting and muttering mess whenever he was forced to share a seat with Mariasha.

Whenever Mariasha 'accidentally' brushed against him, Michael would wince like a red hot poker just touched him and would scoot away. Of course, that would cause Mariasha to glare at him with disapproval and scoot closer to him. In the end, two things would happen. One, Michael would scoot over so much he'd end up on the floor. Or two, he would jump to his feet and do some random errand, like getting the washing off the line or changing the sheets on his bed.

How could Marly not see the extremes her son went through to get away from Golden Girl, Mariasha?

Sipping at her tea, Nana listened quietly as the two teens sitting on the couch together engage in light, yet comfortable conversation, Michael even telling her a few stories about his childhood and how much trouble he would get himself into. There was some light banter, something they both were engaging in, Michael even going as far as to playfully poke Kai on the cheek and she merely rolled her eyes at him.

It was kinda sweet watching the two as they act like very good friends.

However, it was evitable that the conversation drifted over to Mariasha and her persistence for Michael's attention yet how she was going about it in a completely backward way. Michael grumbled something incoherent under his breath, the annoyance he felt for the purple-haired female this morning starting to return.

Ah, yes, it was no surprise that Kai has heard of Mariasha. It was only a matter of time.

"Yeah," Michael muttered as he quickly glanced in Nana's direction. "Kai hasn't met Mariasha yet."

Kai suddenly stiffened in her seat and looked slightly nervous as she tightened her hands around the cup she was holding. "Er, actually..." she muttered.

Michael whipped his attention toward her as he furrowed his brow in confusion. "You have?" he asked. "When?"

"Er, I've had a chat with her in town," Kai replied as she curled a strand of midnight blue hair behind her ear. "A few hours ago."

Michael's brow furrowed further. "You what?" he said in surprise.

Nana, however, found herself sighing as she knew from Kai's body language, that her chat with the infamous Mariasha wasn't a polite one by any means. "What did she say?"

"It's more what I said to her," Kai mumbled as she continued to fidget in her seat and chewed on her bottom lip. "She stalked off pretty angry."

Michael blinked slowly at her reaction before a smirk appeared on his lips. He knew from experience that Kai had quite an acid tongue and whenever she went off her head, she immediately regretted it, no matter how much the person on the receiving end deserved it.

Dammit, it would have loved to have seen the look of Mariasha's face when Kai had to gall to talk back to her.

"What did you say?" he asked, a sense of eagerness in his voice to hear details.

"Er, well..."

"Go ahead child," Nana urged, also wanting to hear what happened in town. She'll hear about it eventually, no doubt about that, but she wanted to hear the truth first. "I would love to hear what happened."

"Well, she came up to me, calling me a few choice words as well as accusing me of stealing Michael away from her," Kai explained as she once again curled a strand of hair behind her ear. "I then kinda told her she's a hateful and bitter bitch who needs to realize that the world doesn't revolve around her and that she wasn't as highly regarded as she thought herself to be. And I also kinda told her that people will begin to see through her cheery facade and turn against her. She...really annoyed me, to say the least..." she trailed off, a mild flustered look on her face.

Michael stared at her for a moment before the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. "You said all that?"

"We kinda argued in the middle of the street," Kai continued. "Near the hardware store...in front of a group of people...Noel lingering in the background."

Nana openly stared at the young woman on the seat before her and she could tell that Kai was feeling rather guilty for her actions. She then felt this sense of admiration for the young woman, realizing that she had the courage and belief to stand up for what she truly believed in, and for Michael as well. While everyone else was simply allowing Mariasha to reign supreme over the town, Kai was strong enough to question the irritating woman.

Ooh, the gossip will be in full swing tonight.

But there's only one thing to say to something like that.

"Oh, it's about time!"

Kai physically reeled back in surprise, snapping her attention toward her with her eyes widening in shock. "What?" she murmured.

"I've been waiting for years for someone to finally crack and tell Mariasha off," Nana said firmly as she took a long sip of her tea. "She was in desperate need of a good reality check."

Smiling to herself, Nana couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement as Kai stared at her in disbelief, Michael sniggering to himself on the seat next to her. She abruptly turned her attention to the young man, a questioning look in her eyes, a question Michael answered with a grin of reassurance. Kai gazed at him for a moment, searching his expression with her eyes before nodding and sinking back into her seat with a look of relief on her face.

Suddenly, the sound of Michael's ringtone on his phone pierced the air and Michael rolled his eyes at the noise. "Excuse me," he said as he pulled the phone out of his pocket and removed himself from the seat, the phone pressed to his ear. "Yeah?" he said in a reluctant tone and Nana realized that his mother, Marly, must be on the phone.

Oh dear, she hopes she wasn't giving him another lecture. If she was, they really needed to have yet another chat about Michael and Mariasha, and how Mariasha was playing her like a fool.

A sigh passed Michael's lips as he snapped his phone shut and made his way over to where the girls were waiting patiently.

"Ma wants me home for a minute," Michael explained with a sense of disappointment in his voice and he frowned lightly. "I don't want to cut this visit short..."

"And I'm quite comfy here," Nana said with a frown on her lips as well and gazed off into the roaring fire. She wasn't looking forward to getting up and heading back outside into the cold winter wind. "This is a beautiful fire."

"You'll be coming back, right?" Kai asked Michael as she climbed to her feet to face him more properly. "For dinner, I mean?"

Michael nodded his head quickly. "Yeah."

"Then Nana is more than welcomed to stay here and have dinner with us as well," Kai said with a smile as she turned to look in Nana's direction. "If that's ok?"

Nana immediately beamed at the idea. Now, she knew that Kai here was genuinely polite and sweet. If she had been faking it, which Nana never suspected she was, she wouldn't have offered to let her stay while Michael did some errands for his mother, would she? This was a brilliant turn of events as she could really see how much the two of them meant to each other when they were separated.

"Sounds like a splendid idea," Nana replied.

While Michael tilted his head to the side in question, yet with a knowing grin on his lips, Kai looked somewhat relieved that she didn't turn down her offer.

"Ok," Michael said with a quick nod of his head. "I shouldn't be long. See ya in a tick."

Nana nodded her head and watched with a warm gaze as Kai followed Michael to the front door and helped him with his jacket. It was sweet to watch the way Kai subconsciously fussed over him, making sure he was warm enough. The two then shared a few words and Nana was amused by the sudden likeness to a married couple. If Kai pecked him on the cheek to say goodbye, it wouldn't have been that out of place.

"They'll make a cute couple," Nana whispered to herself as she finished off her tea, listening to the front door opening and then closing a moment later.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Kai said as she returned to the fire place, taking Michael's seat on the couch. "You don't mind if I call you Nana, do you? I mean, I don't want to be disrespectful or-"

"Oh, goodness gracious, call me Nana, child," Nana quickly cut her off as she waved a dismissive hand at her. "We're all friends here."

"That's good," Kai said as a pretty smile graced her lips, her eyes softening with a sense of warmth. She really was a very pretty girl, Nana was sure Michael knew that as well. "It feels like I know you quite well. Michael adores you."

Nana chuckled and nodded her head once again. "I've heard many great things about you too."

"Oh, I don't know about that..." Kai said humbly, lifting her hand to curl her hair behind her ear in a bashful way.

"So, Michael tells me that you're a good cook," Nana said, eager to know a bit more about this intriguing young woman that had gain Michael's attention.

"I can throw a couple of meals together, if that's what you mean," Kai said with a light shrug, appearing a little uncomfortable with talking about herself, which Michael did mention to Nana previously. Still, it was nice to speak with someone that was polite and shy, compared to someone who only talked about how great she was and how insignificant her future husband was.

"I'm not too good with desserts, though," Kai continued. "I've never really had time for them."

A sudden idea popped into Nana's head and she paused for a moment. Normally, she would never consider doing what she was about to do, but there truly was something different about Kai here. Perhaps...

"There's a simple little treat I could teach you," Nana offered. "Michael just loves them."

"He does?" Kai asked as she leaned forward in her seat a little, the suggestion immediately capturing her interest.

Ah, that was the reaction Nana had hoped for. Showing Kai how to make her secret family recipe that she had never, ever taught anyone before should be interesting.

Michael will be so thrilled.