Disclaimer: Takao Aoki owns all of the sexy beyblade characters...and it makes me wonder if he's gay just because they all are just so hot...like WTF? So you vultures, otherwise known as lawyers, you should work harder at putting the real criminals in jail, like Boris, instead of crazy fangirls.
So I'm BAAAAACK! And right on time too...I'm about 15 chapters ahead of this, which makes me happy and less panicky. As you all know, I have other stories as well I need to work on but...*slumps* I REALLY enjoyed my mini-vacation. But yup, back to the grind and writing for at least 20 hours a week.
To my wonderful reviewers: Tyka's Flower, Little A Granger, Angel Devastation, "Me" (otherwise known as TofuNinjaCat), CorynOfHoole, Fox, Killua17, FlamingIce94 (your review was amazing, thank-you again!), zutsu and adbhut (I MISSED YOU!)...thank-you for all taking the time and giving me feedback. You guys completely motivate me to keep going! To all of my lovely readers...I'm so happy to see you all here again.
Alright, I get it. I'll shut up and give you the next chapter that you all have been patiently waiting for...
"Wow, somebody splurged."
"Hn."
"Are you sure about this Kai?"
"I bought it didn't I?"
"Yeah, it just seems a little much if it's just the two of us, y'know?"
"Max and Ray need some place to stay too, right?"
"Well...in that case it's perfect!"
They were standing in front of a lavish 3-story house that had 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, just a few streets down from the dojo. Kai had sprung it on Tyson that morning. All he had said was "We're moving.", packed up their very few possessions into a black truck (since when did Kai have a truck?) and now here they were.
Five days had passed since the Russian destroyed his office and the enigma had been basically living there ever since. Every attempt that Tyson had made to see him was met by the infamous cold shoulder or "I'm busy". Tala had stayed in town and did Kai's dirty work for him by actually throwing the baseball-capped teenager out of the building on multiple occasions.
Tyson really should have been more pissed off, but- this was Kai. He was Mr. Do-What-I-Want-When-I-Want-It, and the bluenette was pretty sure this was how his friend was choosing to cope, as Kai was always the type to bury himself in work or training until he snapped out of whatever funk he was in. Truth be told, if the bastard was just lazing around the house moping, then Tyson would be worried.
Stepping inside the freshly-purchased estate, the kittens running ahead of him to explore the place, the blue-haired teenager looked around. The living room was HUGE! He looked to his friend who was leaning against the wall sipping on his mug of fresh coffee. "OH MY GOD! We could put a beydish in here!"
Kai smirked smugly. "Hn. Wait till you see the backyard." he chuckled softly to himself when the boy ran out the sliding glass door and he heard "Forget the dish! We could put an entire stadium back here! How did you ever find this place?"
"Money opens doors." The exact price to open this particular door was $1, 678,219 American dollars. Yeah...you could say he liked the place.
"Oh my God! Ray would die if he saw this kitchen! He's so going to beybattle you for this house!" Tyson joked, looking at the 5-star appliances.
"Heh. He can go ahead and try, but that battle would be short-lived." He took another sip of his beverage. "Now, once you've picked your jaw up off the floor, come help unpack."
As if the boy hadn't heard a word he said, the bluenette exclaimed joyfully, "Oh my God! This refrigerator is a dream come true! It even has an ice maker!"
Outwardly Kai sighed and looked annoyed, but on the inside, he was grinning from ear to ear.
For the next 2 days their free time was spent unpacking and furnishing their new home; Well if furnishing meant that Kai would call and order things online, and Tyson would wait around all day and sign for the deliveries. Max, Kenny and Ray came over after it was clear that Tyson didn't read instruction manuals.
Today though, the day seemed to be dragging. Tala had taken over management and there was a steady, seemingly endless stream of paperwork that flooded the CEO's office. The only thing that was keeping Kai from burning everything to ash was the fact that the coffee was bottomless.
Ring. Ring Ring.
Finally! A reason to rest his aching hand! "Hiwatari."
"Happy Birthday Kai."
Kai just sat there, stunned. Not only at what day it was, but at who was on the other end of the line. He smiled softly. "Thanks...Mother."
"I-I hope its a good one. Maybe you can spend it with those friends of yours."
His heart melted. "You know about them?"
Her voice brightened. "Of course I do! I've been able to watch all of your matches. That boy Tyson seems like he's a handful though."
"He can be." He chuckled, "But I wouldn't have it any other way. He's strong too."
"I know, but you are too. I'm so proud that you're my son."
Pure elation filled his being.
"I gotta go. I love you." She whispered.
"I love you too Mom." The line went dead and a single tear made its way down his cheek and spashed onto the desk. He smiled. These phone calls meant that she cared and that she was not being as watched as carefully as she had been.
Hope was the best present that he could ever ask for.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. 7:05! Oh he was so out of here. Fuck the paperwork.
When he got home, the house was dark, which was odd. Maybe Tyson was visiting Max or something. He unlocked the door and turned on the light.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAI!"
Kai stood there, completely immobilized. The house was entirely furnished and decorated with cheap cardboard signs, and balloons were absolutely everywhere! But in the middle of all that chaos was his friends- his weird little make-shift family. Max, Kenny, Ray, Tala, Spencer, Bryan...and of course, Tyson.
"How did you find out?" he said a little too roughly, wasn't his fault though...damn tears were stinging his eyes.
"Oh The Chief here has his ways, and we just HAD to throw you a party!" said Tyson, with a huge grin.
Something clicked then and ruby eyes glared at Tala. "Those had better not have been fake documents."
The red-head just gave a sly grin. "Let's just say you won't have to do any paperwork until after Halloween."
"I should've known." The Birthday Boy looked down and saw a massive, 3-tier black cake, trimmed with red and gold frosting with an impressive figure of Dranzer at the top. Ray was grinning like the cat who caught the canary, as Kai arched an eyebrow. "Impressive."
"Glad you approve. Chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. Dranzer is made from chocolate fondant and Rice Krispe Squares. Max helped." The neko-jin grinned at the blonde, who blushed. "Keeping Tyson out of the kitchen was the hard part. That's where Spencer and Bryan came in handy."
"Oh yeah! We had a contest with would could blow-up the most balloons, which I totally won." said Tyson, puffing out his chest proudly.
"At least we found a use for all your hot air." teased Bryan.
Kai tried to imagine the hard-ass bladers of Russia filling up pink balloons until they were blue in the face, and he just lost it. At first it was just a snicker, but either due to all the stress or the phone call earlier, that snicker morphed into a giggle, which erupted into a fit of laughter that brought him to his knees, clutching his aching ribs and sides.
The laughter was contagious and soon everyone was in hysterics! Eventually the giggles died down, and everyone was left on the floor catching their breath.
"Alright. Who wants cake?" asked Ray.
After the mouth-watering, delicious creation was devoured, everyone decided it was time for presents, which Kai was eyeing warily. He was sure what the Blitzkrieg Boys got him was nothing short of mortifying. Max and Kenny's were probably safe, but Ray and Tyson were both wild cards. The tricky part was that they were all wrapped in the same black wrapping paper and the only way to distinguish between them was the different coloured stickers in the corners.
This idea had Tala written all over it...
"Yellow." Kai said finally.
"For MUSTARD!" cried Max as he got up from his place next to Tyson in the circle that they had created around Kai. He retrieved his gift and gave it to the Dranzer wielder. "Happy Birthday buddy!"
Carefully unwrapping the gift, Kai smiled when he revealed a tub of face paint, surprised to see that it was the exact brand he usually got too. "I remember for one of your battles you ran out just before a match and ended up grabbing a blue perminate marker and drew them instead. I realized then how important it was to you."
Kai looked at the blonde boy with soft eyes, touched that he had paid so much attention. "Thanks Maxie, I appreciate it." Max beamed and sat back down and Kai immediately opened the can and pulled out his compact mirror and painted on his iconic blue shark fins. Now this felt more like it.
Alright, he had 1 safe present left, 2 wild cards and 3 'gifts' that should never see the light of day. He looked at the remaining colours: Blue, red, purple, green, orange and pink. He eyed the pink one with suspicion. "Purple."
To his horror Spencer was the one to get up and he found himself remembering every awful thing he had ever done to the over-sized Russian- This was not going to be pretty.
Slowly he unwrapped the gift, expecting the worst, to his surprise a pair of black, fingerless gloves laid in his hands.
"I figured the ones you have now must be getting worn out. These even come with a place to keep your ripcord, like your old ones!"
Kai had never been so grateful that Spencer was not as cunning as Tala and Bryan in his entire life. "Yeah they were, thanks."
"Alright, pick another present!" said an enthusiastic Tyson.
5 gifts left. Pretty decent odds. "Green." Kenny stood up – Oh thank God. Safe for another turn. Shyly Kenny gave him his present...jeez! This thing was heavy! He revealed several weighted clothing items; Arm bands, anklets and extra weights for his scarf. Ah, good ol' practical Kenny. With all these accessories, he could be muscle training even at the office.
"Ha, just because you have some fancy new gear, doesn't mean that you can beat me."
Kai grinned wickedly at his rival. "Just you wait."
Kenny returned to his seat and Kai looked at the remaining presents...might as well get this over with... "Pink."
He was surprised for the 5th time that night when Ray was the one that got up. Inside the gift box were several Chinese teas and a book entitled "Calming Techniques for the Busy Businessman. "We've all noticed that you've looked really run down recently, so I was hoping these could help." He winked.
Curious now, Kai picked up the book and turned to random page...he couldn't stop staring. It was a sex manual. He gave Ray a look that said 'I'm not stupid.' but when Ray winked again, he opened it to the back cover and he could feel his cheeks become heated. It was Tyson, in all his glory, stark naked. Swallowing thickly, he could see mirth in those golden eyes and he forced himself to say, "Thanks Ray." as he carefully closed the book and focused his attention elsewhere, trying to be rid of the damn blush and his growing erection.
3 'gifts' left... "Orange." When Bryan gave him the gift, he just knew he was in for it...
His eyebrows rose. Leather clothes? Nice.
"You should change into them Kai!" Piped up Tyson. "That way we can all see!"
"Yeah! Fashion Show!" Urged Max.
The vein on Kai's forehead throbbed. He had better not look like a damn stripper. Reluctantly he went up the stairs to change.
Tyson drummed his finger impatiently as the others engaged in idle chit-chat. He wanted to see the outfit! He had overheard how Bryan had spent forever looking for it, and he wanted to see what he had finally decided on. Though, if it was him picking out the outfit, he would choose something out of comfortable material, loose baggy pants, a purple shirt with a black jacket and maybe a pair of sunglasses...
Kai's smoky voice broke through his thoughts. "So someone wanted a fashion show?" Tyson turned his head towards the staircase, his mouth instantly went dry and his pants became uncomfortably tight. Yeah...Bryan could pick out all of Kai's outfits from now on.
The Russian was wearing a black leather vest that exposed his navel and well-toned arms and complimented his ivory skin, making his striking crimson eyes stand out that much more. The pants hugged every curve of Kai's long slender legs like a second skin- and holy shit! Kai's ass was perfect! If he thought Kai was beautiful before, he looked absolutely ravishing now.
Tala did a wolf whistle and Bryan asked, "So what do you think?"
"It's more comfortable than I thought it would be." Kai said honestly as he returned to his spot on the floor and chose the next present. "Blue."
"Finally." Muttered Tyson as he gave his present to the 19-year old and presented it with a huge smile "Happy Birthday Kai!"
Kai delicately took the package from the boy's hands and ripped off the wrapping paper. An easy grip launcher. He remembered their conversation just shortly after they got back from camp, when he was driving Tyson to school – and all the perverted images that came with the conversation. He looked at the launcher, and sure enough there was a slight curve in the hilt.
His cheeks went red again.
"Oh and there's something else for you too!"
Kai looked through the wrapped paper and found a small box. Gingerly he opened it. It was a necklace. It had a long silver chain and – his eyes widened – a red phoenix pendant.
For an instant, he caught Tyson's eye and dropped all his barriers, letting Tyson see exactly how much it meant to him. The baseball-capped teen smiled and gave a small nod, his emotions clear as day.
Kai quickly fastened the necklace around his neck and placed the launcher in his vest pocket. He then turned to Tala and glared. Judging from the smug look on his vice-president's face, there was something up the red-head's sleeve. He grabbed the last present and teared off the wrapping paper and chuckled. "Handcuffs? Really Tala? Or did you get my gift confused with yours and Bryan's sex-toys?" Everyone snickered.
"Nope, because we're going to need them for our next game; 7 Minutes in Heaven."
Aren't you glad I'm back? Once you're done drooling, please send me a review telling me what you thought of this chapter! Next chapter will be posted next Thursday!
