Hey everyone! Back with an update (finally). This one's longer than the rest, too. Thank you to all the reviewers and people following the story for your patience.

Oh, and on another note - in case anyone doesn't know - the bladebreakers are back! A new manga sequel featuring them called beyblade rising has been released! Woo hoo! The plot of the manga isn't quite the same as the anime - for instance, Hiro makes his appearance much earlier in the manga, the whole BEGA arc is anime only and a couple of other things revealed in beyblade rising and the original manga series, which may or may not be seen as minor spoilers for those who've only watched the anime (which included me too till very recently). However, since I've already started, I'll be going along primarily with what we can deduce from the anime alone.

Disclaimer: Beyblade belongs to Takao Aoki and not me. :P

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 12: Shopping with Alex

As promised, the teens had so far behaved themselves, with Ray and Kenny reigning in Daichi's usual early morning rambunctious antics and stopping him from picking noisy fights with Tyson that were bound to get on the older Kai's nerves.

The future self of their brooding friend didn't speak a word to them at breakfast (which of course, none of them took offense at), after which he immediately left for work. Alex later informed them that he had taken over as the president of Hiwatari Enterprises after the death of his grandfather nearly three years ago. Tyson had stolen a glance at Kai then, wondering how he would react to the news of Voltaire's death, and was rather surprised to see that his expression remained completely neutral, as if he had just been told the day's weather forecast and not about the passing of one of his closest blood relatives.

Soon after breakfast, Alex received a call from Kenny, asking how everything was going, and letting them know that he and Max were in the process of analysing the energy signals - and though it was, as expected, proving complicated - they had contacted Judy, who had done a great deal of research on bit-beasts and was probably one of the best people they could ask for advice on the matter. Of course, this had necessitated them disclosing the entire situation to her. She was shocked, to say the least. However, she had immediately agreed to share all her research material, and promised to fly down to Japan as soon as possible to assist them.

The idea of getting to see his mother, of course, thrilled teen Max greatly and he was practically bouncing all over the place with excitement, till Alex told him to save his energy for their shopping trip. Which brought the G-Revolutions to the immediate job they were faced with: going to buy essentials needed for their stay in the future. And that was how they found themselves, a little before nine in the morning, outside a large boutique.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Alex, turning around when she noticed that the teens were still standing at the entrance, looking hesitant. "Come on!"

They followed her into the store rather reluctantly after she impatiently beckoned for them to enter.

"This place looks really pricey," murmured Ray as they surveyed the racks of clothing and accessories around them while tagging behind Alex.

Hilary checked out the price tag on one of the outfits being modeled by a mannequin and immediately dropped it with a tiny "Eep!", before hurrying to catch up with the boys.

"This stuff is too expensive!" She hissed at her friends under her breath. "I knew that things sold at boutiques were high end, but this is ridiculous! There's no way we can accept such clothes for free!"

"How bad can it be?" asked Daichi with a casual shrug. "Besides, isn't Kai rich?"

Hilary snatched a couple of tops off a nearby rack and shook them in the younger boy's face. "Just look at the price!"

Daichi's eyes widened as he took note of the numbers on the tags, as Tyson tried to nudge him out of the way to have a look. "Woah! That much for just one shirt!? What is it made of, gold?"

"See what I mean?" whispered Hilary fiercely, casting a quick glance towards Alex, who was a little ahead of them and seemed busy looking around. "Even if they may be able to afford this, it's absolutely unnecessary!"

Max scratched his head. "Well, why don't we just say so then?"

"Don't you think it might be a bit rude of us to ask Alex to take us to another store after taking the trouble to bring us here?" asked Kenny doubtfully. "We need to go into the city to find other shops or the malls, and she had to leave Gou at home today too."

"Yeah, but"-

"Excuse me, but as Daichi already mentioned, I have more than enough money to buy you a few sets of clothes." said Kai, who had been bringing up the rear of the group, as he came up to stand beside them.

"That's not the point, Kai!" said Hilary. "There's"-

"There's no point wasting money like this? Believe me, it's being put to better use than it was in Voltaire's time," he said, thinking about the amount of money his grandfather had wasted on pointless finery and antiques to showcase his wealth to clients and partners during business meetings, dinners and celebrations. "Even in case the company's turn over isn't as much as it had been under him, it isn't like one slightly expensive shopping spree will put a dent in the family fortune."

Tyson grinned. "Now you're just bragging, buddy."

Kai scoffed. "I'm just pointing out the facts, think of that as you may."

"Oh, you're impossible," said Hilary, annoyed at being overruled and huffily putting back the clothes. "Fine, then. Since you're so sure this is okay, don't you dare chastise me for buying whatever I like."

"Go right ahead."

"Hmph!" Hilary made a great show of sticking her nose in the air and walking off haughtily, much to Kai's amusement.

Meanwhile, Alex seemed to have been spotted by someone she knew, because there was a loud, excited squeal of "Lexiii!" and the next moment a blur of blue slammed into her.

"Mimi! Jeez, slow down!" Alex managed to steady herself and the young lady who had barreled into her before both of them tumbled onto the display behind them. She frowned at the woman who looked up at her as she released her from the bear hug, before a laugh escaped her. "You really need to stop jumping people like that."

The young woman, Mimi, grinned broadly as she straightened up. She was tall, with long, straight midnight blue hair and eyes of the same colour. Her professional looking business suit and skirt seemed like a bit of a mismatch with her demeanor, though.

"I'm so happy to see you!" she said excitedly, literally swinging Alex around like they were a pair of schoolgirls. "I never hear from you at all these days! How have you been? Baby Gou? Kai? All good?"

"Yes, yes. Everyone's fine," said Alex, giving her friend's forearms a squeeze as she stopped twirling her.

"Great! You should have told me you'd be coming - anyway, now that you're here, we have loads to catch up on! You just have to see my latest line!"

"Um, yeah, but actually-" Alex was saved the effort as Mimi made to take her by the arm and drag her off, but stopped short when she caught sight of the group of teenagers standing awkwardly behind her friend.

"Oh...my gosh," she said, her blue eyes widening. She turned to look at Alex in complete astonishment. "What?...They look exactly..."

Alex sighed. Obviously she had gone through this too many times than she would have cared to in the past twenty four hours. "Well, yes. That's because - you know, maybe we should sit down and then talk."

...

"That's so cool! So you guys are really from the past?" Once she had gotten over her initial shock (which Kai had noticed lasted less than ten seconds after Alexandra had once again recounted the entire episode), the blue haired girl seemed to actually be quite thrilled by this turn of events. "It would have been far more exciting if they were from the future, but oh, I suppose you all must be finding this really intriguing! So how are you liking the future so far?"

"Uh... it's great, I guess?" Kenny sounded more like he was asking a question.

"Hey, Mimi, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about this," said Alexandra, fidgeting with the thin chain around her neck,. They were currently seated in Mimi's office at the back of the store - turns out she was the owner/manager.

Mimi tilted her head in question to her friend's request, and the blonde continued, "We'd rather not have any unnecessary attention, since we really don't know how all this...time travel...stuff may mess things up in both their and our timelines, so..."

"Well, if that's the case, my lips are sealed," said Mimi with a wink, holding a finger to her lips for effect. "So, Lexi, is there anything you needed my help with?"

"Yes, actually, we came here to buy some clothes for these guys," said Alexandra, nodding in the direction of the teens. "Do you have something for them?"

"Do I ever! I'm glad you asked!" The blue haired girl stood up and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Follow me!"

...

"All of the clothes I have in my boutique are inspired by the styles of people I've met so far," explained Mimi as she led the group once again through the store, which was, thankfully, still empty so far. "I was particularly fascinated by the style of the beybladers we met when we competed in the championships. They were all so unique and colourful, descriptive of their own individual personalities. Of course, that includes all of you as well!" she turned to them with a smile as they stopped at one corner of the store.

The teens were surprised by this information.

"You competed in the beyblading championships?" asked Daichi in such an incredulous tone that Hilary had to resist the urge to whack him for sounding rude.

"That's riiight!" sang Mimi. "Lexi and I were teammates!"

"Oh," the others chorused, while Kai's eyebrows rose in surprise. This was his first time hearing that Alexandra had participated in the sport.

"So, you design these clothes yourself?"asked Max.

"I'm just starting out as a designer," said Mimi. "Most of what I have here is from established brands, but all these in this section here" - She swept her hand around - "are my own designs!"

"Wow! This is so my style!" exclaimed Max as he caught sight of and began examining a bright star-spangled jacket and a pair of orange cargo pants.

"I see you weren't kidding about being inspired by bladers," remarked Ray as he fingered a blue oriental style outfit with elaborate tiger motifs.

"Not at all," said Mimi with a wide grin, pleased to see that the teens had taken a liking to her clothes.

Tyson, Ray, Daichi and Max were quickly handed several sets of clothes by the two women and ushered into the changing rooms to try them out. The protests against being given so many garments were silenced when Alex pointed out that they had no other choice but to accept them unless they wanted to remain in the same outfit for the rest of their indefinite stay. Mimi then dragged Hilary away to pick out things from the rest of her store's collection, leaving Alex to browse through a small display space sporting dark jeans with heavy wallet chains and skull design belts.

"You're getting something for yourself too," she said out loud, without even looking up. Just as she guessed, Kai had been hanging around at the back, putting a few display stands between himself and the rest of the group to avoid being carted off to change along with the rest of his team.

"I don't need anything," came the flat reply.

Alex turned around to meet the seventeen year old's adamant gaze. She could tell that he just didn't want to go through the hassle of changing; it was kind of a thing with him - even now he'd often just collapse onto the bed after coming home from work without even taking off his coat.

"I know you don't, but I want you to take something from here," she replied, holding up some of the garments she'd picked out. "Come on, they're nice aren't they? At least take these," she said, holding up a black tank top with a brilliant orange and red phoenix printed on the lower left hand side and a pair of grey jeans with a wallet chain and matching chain belt that seemed to be made of interlocking flame designs.

He thought the clothes looked kind of cool. Not that he would be telling her that.

"No," he said plainly, earning a pout. He figured she and his future self had had this sort of disagreement more than once - suspecting he may have even done it on purpose on a few occasions to get that reaction.

"You're impossible," she said.

"So I've been told."

The others soon returned with the clothes of their choice, and Alexandra began heading towards the cash counters to get them billed, but Mimi stopped her.

"No, no Lexi! It's all for free!"

"I seriously hope that's not what you tell all your customers."

After some arguing and persuasion, the two settled at half-price. After getting their purchases, they all bid goodbye to the blue haired woman.

"Promise you'll drop by again!" exclaimed Mimi, giving a rather startled Hilary a hug.

"They're not exactly here on vacation, you know," came Alexandra's amused reply.

Mimi giggled. "Of course not, silly! Doesn't make me want to not see them again! And you," she poked her friend. "You have to come and see me at least once a week from now on, got that?"

"Sure thing, Mim," she said with a smile, giving her a hug before following the group out of the store.

"See you!"

...

"Man, it's so peaceful out here," said Max, stretching his arms over his head as he laid back in the grass. The teens had, after changing out of their old clothes and freshening up, headed out to explore the grounds around Hiwatari manor. They were currently relaxing in an open spot a fair distance behind the manor, where they had discovered a small pond.

"Yeah, we should visit Kai's place more often when we get back," said Tyson with a laugh, plopping down beside his half-American friend. The champion was dressed in a sleeveless open washed out denim jacket, a full sleeved red shirt, khaki trousers, and of course, his baseball cap.

Max was wearing a plain bottle green T-shirt along with the orange cargos he'd spotted first in the boutique. Ray, who sat cross-legged beside them was wearing a Chinese style top with red trim similar in design to what he usually wore along with black pants. He chuckled at Tyson's comment. "I'm sure Kai would love that."

Kenny and Hilary walked up to them, bringing back Daichi who had been trying to pick some of the fruit from a nearby tree.

"I understand that you're used to picking fruit like this at home, but you just can't do that at someone else's place without permission, Daichi!" reprimanded Hilary. The brunette was dressed in beige shorts and a pink crop top with a short white half sleeved jacket over it. The redhead, now dressed plainly in a simple purple T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans(with both legs intact) sighed exasperatedly. "I told you I didn't know! Give it a rest already!"

Kenny shook his head slightly and sat down carefully on the grass, seemingly mindful of the new beige trousers and blue shirt he was now wearing. "By the way," he said, as he powered on his laptop. "Has anyone seen Kai?"

Once again, thank you for your patience! The next chapter will most likely be out after new year's.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

-AthenaSeiki