Warning: This story my not be suitable for young readers. At some point in chapters there will be mature content that some parents may not find suitable for their children to read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. I only claim my OC's Ana and Issac and of course the plot

Chapter 20:

It was in the wee hours of the morning when she got home. Ana tiptoed through the house to her room and avoided every creak in the floor. She had lost track of time while on her date and felt awful. The two of them had talked and talked for hours about nothing in particular. She had told him about Issac and his reaction had been slightly surprised. Which of course she had assumed he would act, but then he started asking questions and it made her feel a lot better.

As she walked down the hall she noticed light coming through the crack of Tala's door. After peeking in on Issac in her room she walked down the hall and lightly knocked on his door. To her dismay Kai opened it and frowned at her before going over the cot they'd set up for him. He sat on it and leaned his back against the wall. Both of them were wearing a t-shirt and basketball shorts. They seemed so similar and yet so different all the once. The two of them were like day and night. She watched the red head turn around from messing with his lap top and he smiled. A gut wrenching feeling inside twisted a knot in her stomach. For some reason when he looked at her she felt as if she had betrayed him some how. How did she does this? The answer was unclear because she had done nothing wrong.

"How'd it go?" he asked leaning back in his desk chair.

"Meh. It was alright. We talked a lot." she shrugged.

"You did nothing but talk for five hours?" Kai cut in.

She rolled her eyes and ignored him. He was so annoying. The guy was a total stick in the mud. Most of the time he was quiet, but anytime he spoke it always came out rude. Kai Hiwatari seriously thought way too highly of himself.

"So how was your night?" she asked not acknowledging Hiwatari at all.

"Meh." he shrugged mimicking her. "A peaceful night in the Russian household between us men. Oh by the way there's a picture on the fridge for you."

"Aww that's cool I can't wait to see it."

"All you did was talk?" Kai asked again.

Ana sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling trying to maintain her composure. Annoying was beginning to sound way too nice of a word to use.

"Yes. Just because I have a child does not mean I'm a whore. Nor does it mean I'm willing to jump into bed with any man that is interested in me. We met. We ate. We talked. I asked to come home."

"Leave her alone man."

Ah. Tala was the sensible mature one between them. If only that stupid bluenette had manners like him.

"I'll see you in the morning." she said grabbing the door knob to close it

"You mean in a couple of hours. It's already morning."

She frowned and left. Inside she heard Tala scold him only for the other man to snap back.

"Why do you always give her such a hard time?"

"Cuz man. She's too damn nice. It pisses me off. You ever read a book where there was a character in it who was nice all the time and seemed to forever be the victim?"

"Yea she's nice, but that's no reason to keep being an ass." Tala defended her. "You ever think that she's nice because that's who she wants to be? We all have our secrets, YOU of all people know about it."

She smiled at his words. He was so thoughtful and kind. Quietly she walked back to her room and thought about the events of the night. It had been nice. Once again. He had mostly spoken of himself just like at the party. He was kind enough to listen about Issac, but the whole time she felt a need to go home. Several times her mind had wandered off to wonder about how things were going. When they had pulled into the driveway Ozuma had leaned over to kiss her goodbye, but at the last second she turned her head. The feeling of his lips on hers was unnerving. A date she could handle, but the intimacy was something she had yet to build the courage up for.

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The six and a half of them walked around the gun show together. It was Christmas in July for all the boys. She could see the twinkles in their eyes as they looked from table to table. Ian was the worst of them. She had never seen a man become so childish over weapons. He touched almost everything that the vendors would allow him to. Several times he was carded due to his short stature. Usually it made him angry, but today he did all but wave it madly like a drunken fool.

When they had walked past a toy section he had purchased a little toy cap gun and given it to Issac. His explanation was that it was only fitting he, Uncle Ian, should buy the little boy his first gun. She wasn't fond of the idea, but so long as it wasn't loaded she was perfectly fine with it.

While in the vintage area Spencer seemed to be the most childish of the boys. All of them had split up and in the process she followed him. He was very precise about what he wanted. The barrel had to look a certain way. It required a certain weight he wanted. Clearly she wasn't much on this kind of thing at all, but seeing how happy they all were she could put her pet peeves to the side for it. She couldn't help but laugh watching Spencer as he asked questions that baffled the sellers and seemed to know more than anyone else in the room.

Looking around she found herself walking to a set up filled with bows and arrows. There were butterfly knives and rambo looking knives. Most things were pink, but there were a few white and blue ones. She picked one up and looked it over admiring the craftsmanship of the handle and blade. While looking at it a scent caught her attention and she looked up. Swiveling her heard around left and right her heart raced with fear. That scent she knew it all too well. A wealthy strong smell, so strong it stunk. He used to wear it all the time. A flash of redish orange hair captured her attention making her stare into the crowd. Inside her chest she felt her heart race with fear. No, not today…well not ever did she want to see him. I mean there are other people in the world who could use the same cologne or have the same color hair all at the same time right?

"This is lame."

Nope. It was him. She ducked down into the stroller and played with Issac as a means of hiding. She peeked around the side and saw him walking by with one of the guys she recognized. He was a martial arts master and practically best friends with him. Staying low she crouched around the side of the stroller and slowly stood up to walk away.

"What are you doing?"

She squeeked in surprise and fear at the same time. Tala stood before her with an eyebrow raised with confusion.

"An.."

Quickly she covered his mouth before he could say here name aloud. It was a noisy place, but given some of the luck she had he would definitely hear her name somehow. She wouldn't go back to how things were before. It was frightening to think of how angry he would be and what he would do to her.

"Sorry." she smiled "I don't know what I was thinking. How about we go get a drink?"

"That's what I was going to ask you."

"Oh well then yes. Don't mind if I do!"

"Ana?" a voice called behind her.

Tala looked past her and then down. She saw the look on his face and that he knew. Slowly she shook her head and silently pleaded. Reaching out he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Despite the situation she felt a fluttery awkward feeling. Smiling he started talking about stuff and she played along. He pointed behind her and explained he had already looked over there and wanted to go back behind him to a table somewhere. Then he swung around by her side and put an arm around her waist guiding her and Issac in the direction he supposedly wanted to go.

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Later after they got home he waited until everyone was asleep before he decided to speak to her about things. Kai was gone finally so his room was his own again. Sitting in his desk chair he eyed her warily as she sat Indian style on his bed. She leaned on one of her legs and had her mouth covered with one of her hands as she refused to look at him.

"So. I'm guessing I got to see baby daddy today huh?" he asked.

"Unfortunately." she grumbled. "It was pure bad luck that he was there though."

"You looked really scared."

"We ended on really bad terms. Remember when I was telling you about that man who bought me and he had a son? Well that was his son." she explained.

"Banging out your owner's son. Well that's one way to get even." he tried to joke to lighten the atmosphere, but she wasn't amused.

"That wasn't the plan. I was a companion and indentured servant so to speak. I had to help take care of the house and keep his son occupied. We were friends for a while, but as we grew older we became fond of one another. I wasn't allowed out of the house and my bedroom was in the basement with all the others. I was expected to be in bed at a certain time and if I disobeyed anything at all I was beaten forcefully for it. He told me together we would leave one day, but he fell into the wrong crowd and began abusing drugs."

She stopped talking remembering everything like it had happened yesterday. The weight on the bed shifted as he got up and sat next to her and rubbed her back. Forcing a smile she continued her story. Telling him about how she was beaten and used. When she became pregnant with Issac, he hadn't believed in her. After she had proved it, he called her a whore arguing the child wasn't his. He then pushed her down a flight of stairs. No one helped her. Everyone stood there and watched her fall, watched her face bleed, and they did not move until she was running for the door. Fortunately she got out before anyone could stop her and then she ran. Traveling through three or more states on foot, she never looked back. It was chance that allowed to her meet Bryan. He found her huddled over a fire by the lake. A tarp tied to trees as her only form of shelter. At night the only thing that had kept her company were the animal sounds in the night and Issac who had somehow survived during her fall.

Absentmindedly she leaned into his shoulder and lay against him quietly. She couldn' t help but close her eyes as she enjoyed being engulfed by snow and winter. How did he manage to smell so good?

"I don't know. First I've heard about it." he said aloud.

Blushing she sat up straight and rigid.

"I should go."

As his cheeks turned slightly pink he turned his head away to pull her back into his shoulder. Was he hitting on her? It was really weird of him to behave like this.

"What's going on?"

"Kai thinks I've turned gay."

"There's nothing wrong with that. I mean if you wanna swing that way.."

"I'm not gay." he frowned. "I just don't know what I want."

"What do you mean what you want?" she raised an eyebrow.

He looked up as though he were contemplating what to say next. For some time he was quiet.

"Please don't get mad."

"Huh?"

Leaning in he captured her lips. She stared in shock unable to move. When he moved away from her she was still immobilized. He waved a hand in front of her. Blinking she finally noticed him again.

"Um. Ok." she said.

"Sorry." he replied scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sure that was pretty bad for you considering I wasn't ready."

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The two young men sat quietly in the car on the way back to their hotel. Garland couldn't help looking over every so often to try and figure out what his comrade was thinking. They both knew it was Ana back at the show. Neither of them could have not noticed the similarities in the hair and body type from the last time they'd seen her. Almost two years had past and she hadn't changed one bit.

"Are you angry?" he asked breaking the silence in the car.

He received no response. It made him feel very uncomfortable. No one could ever make him feel this way like he could.

"Another man had his hands on my property. How should I feel?" came the response filled with venom.

"So what do you want to do Brooklyn?"