Okay, new chapter :) It doesn't really have much romance, and focuses more on Kai's Daddy issues. Towards the end there's a scene that probably seems a bit OOC. It pretty much is, but I figured that since Kai is in puberty, he does have HORMONES, so I put that part in. I named Kai's Dad after this character in a Russian gangster film Brat. I figured he needs a name (I know he has a Japanese name in the Manga but I haven't really been using the original Japanese names throughout this fic, so it didn't really fit).

Anyways thank you very much annoying talking animal for having reviewed the last chapter! :D Takao won't be in this chappie yet, but he'll be in the next one. Don't worry, he won't ever transfer to the school or something.

xxx - xxx - xxx

I found out in Math class about the extended weekend. I also found out about the school's ridiculous trip to the mountains over the extended weekend that was said to involve an incredibly boring and annoying itinerary of activities, such as hiking, the zoo and tours in cultural museums. All in all I couldn't imagine a more horrendous way to spend those four days. And what made matters worse, Wyatt announced that he's be returning to Switzerland for the entirety of five days to be able to avoid that trip. This was bad in two ways:

a) if super-social optimistic Wyatt found that trip to be a pain, it would be a BIGASS pain

b) if Wyatt would be gone, I would have to spend the entire weekend hanging with the other losers of my grade. Wyatt I could tolerate, the others not. (I guess what I want to say is, that I might even enjoy myself if he were to be around)

Turns out the only chance to be excused from the trip was if my parents would sign me out and I would have been invited by somebody to stay at their place over the weekend. The matter about being invited wouldn't be all that difficult. Takao lived in town, a mere 10 minutes by bus. And I was sure his grandfather wouldn't mind me staying over. As to Takao, I was sure he'd be ecstatic. Getting signed out in the first place would be more difficult. Obviously I couldn't get my Grandfather to do so. The school wouldn't accept the consent of Social Services as they were not directly related to me. So that only left my parents. Due to the fact that I didn't even know where on Earth my Mom lived at the moment, let alone her phone number, there was only one person I could call. My Dad. Oh the joy.

I didn't own a mobile so I had to walk to town to call from a payphone. It was cold and windy. Well, what else was there to expect from late February. Accompanying me was, as always, my dearest and most persistent stalker, Mr I'll-smoke-non-stop-cause-I'm-self-conscious-and-it-makes-me-look-tough-in-front-of-Kai.

'By the way, I hate you.' I informed him.

'Uh? Why's that?' he asked dumbfounded.

'Because thanks to you my air is stained.'

He rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue. 'Thanks Kai, that's reasonable.'

I shrugged, even though it wasn't bothering me that much anymore, I felt it was my expected role to inform him of the fact that I wasn't appreciating it. We continued walking next to each other, quietly, neither of us saying a word, until we reached the phone booth. I took a neatly folded piece of paper out of my pants pocket, that had both my father's and Takao's phone number written on it. I grabbed for the phone only to realise that the cord had been cut.

'Phone booth vandalism. Really? Young gangsters get cooler and cooler by the minute.'

My shameful younger self would at least do cool stuff, like tagging.

Wyatt giggled. 'Oh wow, that is pretty damn pathetic.'

I leaned against the walls of the little booth and sighed. 'Do you know of any other phone booths?'

He nodded. 'Yea, but I don't feel like walking there, how about you just use my mobile?'

'Your mobile? Why didn't you fucking suggest that earlier?'

He smirked. 'Let's just say I like watching you suffer, it's fun.'

I groaned and reached out my arm. Seems he got the message, as he handed me his phone. I pressed a few random buttons not knowing how to work this weird thing. But I didn't want to admit defeat. I continued with my button pressing until Wyatt ripped it from my hands, claiming that he just couldn't stand watching me struggle anymore.

'Just tell me the number you want to dial.'

I spelled the digits out for him and he handed me the phone back once it started ringing on the other line. Toot…toot…toot. Oh bloody hell, couldn't my Dad take the call already.

'Hello, who is this?' It came from the other line.

'Oh wow Papa, that sounds very kind, do you always answer your phone like that?'

There was a brief silence.

'Kai, is this you?'

I rolled my eyes, even though I was aware he wouldn't be able to see me. 'Who else would call you Papa? God no, please don't tell me you have any other children out there?'

'No, no, I'm just surprised you called that's all.'

Well, I have to say that over the past couple of years I had attempted to keep contact with my father to a minimum, so well, I guess I couldn't blame him for this reaction.

'Okay, Dad, just to make it clear, this is neither a peace offering nor a confirmation to move in with you.'

I figured that's what he would assume it to be, it was getting quite annoying that he would always cling on me and beg me to move in with him. I guess he felt some urge to be a good father after all those years. Probably guilt kicking in. Well, I actually did him a favour by not moving in. His new wife hated me. After seeing me during the World Championship she's been convinced that I'm nuts and need psychiatric attention. And from what I could tell, she's been even worse since she's been pregnant, probably some sort of mother-hen complex kicking in. I'm guessing she wants to protect her unborn babies from their psycho brother. Well, I'm just hoping for them that my father is going to be a better Dad to them than he was to me. Let's just say that my father never really grew up. My grandfather decided to raise me like his son because my father apparently lacked the maturity to deal with a baby. Normally, if I'd read about this kind of situation in the papers, I would have given off a comment, like, if he weren't ready for babies, he should've kept his pants on. Well, considering the fact that I'm a product of unplanned teen pregnancy, I'm glad my Dad was a horny douche, because otherwise I wouldn't have existed. My Dad was barely sixteen when I was born. That is my age, I am sixteen now. I don't know how I would have been able to raise a child at this age. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to either. I mean, I'm sixteen, this is my prime. I wouldn't want to miss out on boarding school. I guess that in my defence I have to add, that I'm not that desperate to get laid, so my case is different to Dad's.

Well, in his defence, I have to add that he is being a better parent than my Mom. I've been told that my mother was very caring and devoted at first. But after a couple of weeks she got exhausted and probably lost interest. My grandfather claims that my mother was not exactly intelligent and did never have a very long attention spam. My father agrees that she was a ditz but says she was very pretty. I look like her, so I've been told. It's not that encouraging really, being told that you look like your Mom when you're a boy. I just wanted to remark that. Well, I should continue with the story of my life. So after my mother lost interest in me, my grandfather decided to raise me. Meanwhile, my father went to University, and being a lazy, un-ambitious party animal, it took him 10 years to earn a Master's degree in Business. At some point, he met Jasmine, from Ireland or Scotland, I'm not sure. Well, they decided to get married. And now they decided to form a family. Obviously the 'accident' from my dear Daddy's teenage days is not included in that family plan. At least not according to my step mom. My Dad is somewhat oblivious and slightly idealistic. He invites me to live with them, now that I'm a teen and 'cool' and can take care of myself. Of course that would be quite a disaster, so I prefer boarding school.

Yea, that's the story of my life. It's not exactly glorious and if I ever were to write an official biography I certainly wouldn't go into very much detail, since it's kinda embarrassing.

'Kai, I've told you a million times to call me Danila, Dad sounds so …old.'

Danila is his first name, he hates being called Dad. Which is why I do it.

'Hmm, I think I prefer Papa or maybe Daddy? What do you think?'

I'm evil.

'Oh well, so why did you call, Kai? It wasn't for a chat, was it, I know you're not much of a talker.'

Yeah, that's pretty spot on.

'I have a favour to ask you. I need you to write a letter to the school stating that you allow me to stay at the Kinomiya household for the following weekend. It has to be signed and needs to be in by Wednesday. They'll accept a fax but not email.'

I guess I sounded a bit demanding but, well, my Dad isn't exactly the most reliable person.

'Yea, I can do that.'

'Do it now!'

'Kai, I'll do it after lunch.'

'No, you'll forget about it, do it now.'

I could hear him sight on the other line. 'Fine, fine, what's the fax number?'

I had written it down on the sheet of paper, I didn't want him to fuck it up. Sure, the fax number was posted on the web site, but I could imagine him messing it up.

'Okay, I wrote what you told me to write, and I faxed it.'

'Good.'

There was a pause. Then he asked me in a kind and quite caring voice:

'So how is life treating you, Kai?'

Oh boy, small talk with my Dad, the horror!

'It's okay.'

'That's good.'

Oh man, this sure was awkward. I was about to say 'bye' when my eyes fell on Wyatt, who was jumping into the puddles the recent rain had left. That kid sure was being mature again.

'One thing, Dad, do you happen to own a bong?'

A laugh came from the other line. Oh please don't!

'Funny that you ask Kai, I do actually. I have to hide it from Jasmine, though, she doesn't like the fact that I smoke weed. You wanna toke together some time?'

'Good bye, father!'

Then I hung up.

I felt like I had it coming and asking was a stupid idea. What did I expect anyways? My Dad was just that kind of person. The typical party animal that always wants to have fun. I turned my attention towards Wyatt.

'Eh, Stupid!' I yelled. That caught his attention.

'What's the matter?' he stopped skipping and looked up at me with that innocent, curious glare of his.

'Guess what, my Dad's a stoner too, he even offered me to have a smoke with him.'

Wyatt broke into loud laughter and glomped me.

'That's awesome.'

'No, it's disturbing.' I corrected him.

He snickered and rubbed his cheek against mine. He was very close, I realised. But I didn't push him away. I felt it was kinda ridiculous to be afraid of a guy being 'more than friendly', especially since Wyatt had that other dude he was hitting on. So no reason to make a big deal out of it. I even hugged him back. Yes folks, I did. I figured I should let him know that I wasn't homophobic.

The call to Takao's place was quick and easy. I got his grandpa on the phone, he was quite happy that I wanted to come visit. He insisted that Takao would be ecstatic about it. He also agreed to pick me up on Thursday afternoon, and even more important: not to tell Takao what school I went to (let's just say that the kids in town don't necessarily like the kids from the posh boarding school up in the woods).

xxx - xxx - xxx

Thursday afternoon came faster than expected. I guess that was a good thing. After classes had ended, Wyatt and I went outside to the courtyard to wait for our lifts. He was waiting for a cab to take him to the airport, while I was waiting for Takao's grandfather to arrive. Wyatt was pretty excited about going home. He had been talking about it non-stop for quite a while. At first it had seemed kinda expensive and pointless to me. Flying to Switzerland for only 4 days. Then I found out that his Dad owed the airline. Pavel told me. Turns out Wyatt's family is rich, I very rich. He sure doesn't act like it.

Wyatt was in the middle of some eccentric, possibly exaggerated story on how him and his old classmates once snuck into an adult movie theatre, when a car rolled into the driveway. It was a pick-up truck. Quite muddy. A man got out. He was about 23 years old, tanned, relatively muscular, tall, with shaggy hair tied in a ponytail. the guy was dressed in khaki pants and a polo shirt. He looked like some sort of Zoologist or Geologist maybe, that had just gotten back from an extensive expedition.

'Heh, you two!' he yelled at us in Japanese. 'Do you happen to know a guy called Kai Hiwatari?'

'That's me.' I informed him. I was slightly estranged by what was going on here. Who the hell was that guy?

He came up to me. 'Really?' he asked.

'Yes really.' I replied slightly annoyed.

He smirked. 'You seem scarier on TV. Well anyways, I'm Hiro Kinomiya. Takao's brother, I'm supposed to pick you up.'

I guess I didn't quite look that intimidating while dressed in that posh uniform.

I felt Wyatt tab my shoulder.

'Mate, is that your friends brother? Damn, he's shaggable!'

I rolled my eyes at him and whispered. 'Stop perving, you're embarrassing.'

'Don't worry, I doubt he knows English.' Wyatt insisted.

In that moment Hiro gave us an ominous smirk. I had a bad feeling that I knew what that meant. It seems so did Wyatt.

'Please don't tell me you speak English.' he said in an almost begging voice.

Hiro laughed and then replied in perfect English: 'I actually went to University in the UK, London Imperial College to be exact.'

'Oh fuck.'

That was Wyatt. Then he shrugged it off and muttered. 'Well, London Imperial College is quite a sausage fest, anyways.'

I swear, that kid knows how to make a bad situation worse. Not only did he declare Hiro as 'shaggable', he also insulted his University. It's pretty remarkable actually, that Takao's brother went to such a good University. And overseas too. I don't mean to insult Takao, but he's kinda lazy and not the brightest crayon in the box. Well, I'm not either, thanks to my awesome genes (thanks Mom and Dad), but that's not the point.

Luckily Wyatt's cab arrived, that way I could avoid any additional awkwardness. I said my good-byes to him while Hiro went to sign me out at the front office. It didn't take too long and soon we were on our way. The first couple of minutes passed without either of us saying a word. I usually like silence, but this was an awkward silence. I don't think anybody likes those.

'Your friend is quite a character.' Hiro suddenly said.

I glanced over at him. He smiled at me kindly, not in a mocking way. I still couldn't help but making a snappy remark.

'He talks too much and most of it is rubbish.'

Hiro shrugged.

'He seems nice.'

'You're just saying that to be polite.

He laughed. 'Yes I am. But he did have a point, Imperial College is a sausage fest.'

'What did you study?' I asked him. I had to confess, I was curious.

'Archaeology.' he announced.

'You look like it.'

He did have the whole I-spend-a-lot-of-time-outside vibe.

'Is that an insult or a compliment?'

I shrugged. He could take it however he wanted to take it. It was more of a statement not an opinion.

It got awkward and silent again. I decided to grab my bag and took out a black tank top. Then I peeled off my blazer and tie, and started to unbutton my shirt.

'Is there any special reason as to why you're stripping?' Hiro asked me.

'I'm trying to seduce you.' I replied in a dead serious tone.

He gave me an estranged look. I held up my tank top.

'What do you think I'm doing? I'm getting changed. There's no way Takao catches me DEAD in this uniform. I look like a bloody lawyer in it.'

'Whatever makes you happy. Personally I think those pants are a nice touch.'

He was referring to the pair of black jogging pants I had been wearing with my uniform instead of the beige dress pants we were required to wear according to the uniform codex. The reasoning behind that was simple: I didn't feel like undressing down below in the car! No thanks.

All in all, I was now wearing black trousers, a black tank top, my white scarf and a plain blue denim jacket. The jacket was a couple of sizes too small and smelled of smoke. Wyatt had lent it to me as I, for now, didn't own any jacket without the school emblem printed on it. I felt I should probably go clothes shopping sometime soon. Oh yuck!

'Takao is planning to go into family business. He wants to study archaeology too.' Hiro told me. He seemed quite proud.

'Good for him.'

'What are you planning on doing Kai?'

Oh here it was, the question that I had been hoping for. Why did adults assume that you WANTED to tell them your plans for the future? Why did they assume that you had some in the first place?

'I don't know. What's the easiest one to get into? Communications, Tourism, Psychology… probably one of those. I'm not exactly that intelligent, alright!' I hissed.

I guess I might have overreacted. Just a tad. Thing is, I had gotten a Chemistry exam back that day. I failed it, I got 12 %. I was slightly irritated by it.

Wyatt was intelligent. He just wasn't ambitious at all. He never studied and still got A's and B's. He's one of those people that everyone hates, one of those that don't do shit, skip most of their classes and still get the best grades.

'I'll probably end up as a translator or something. That seems to be the only thing I'm good at. And only because I got it handed on a plate when I was a child.' I sighed.

'What subjects are you planning to do for your A-levels?' Hiro asked. That guy really didn't know how to read a room, did he?

'Japanese, Biology and Geography.' I told him. 'I would've done Russian but the stupid school doesn't offer it.'

'Japanese, that's smart, you're fluent in that, so you'll get an easy A.'

'That's why I'm taking it.' I told him, slightly annoyed.

'Heh, calm down kid, it's not a topic you like talking about, I get it.'

I grunted. 'Most would have gotten it after the 'I'm not intelligent' -part.'

He glanced down at me with quite a pitiful look. 'If it helps, Takao always speaks very highly of you, and he calls you smart.'

'Well, my teachers don't.'

Hiro sighed. 'You're really not going to let it go, are you?'

I didn't reply.

'Let me just say this Kai, trying to cheer you up is quite a pain.'

Then it happened. I suddenly cracked. I broke out in tears, it was the weirdest thing ever. It was just everything. Stupid school, me possibly being a ditz, not having any real parental figure anymore now that grandpa was in jail. I was crying, not girl-like crying with sobbing and everything, it was rather my eyes getting wet and tearing. And I started blurting out words. I ended up telling Hiro all those things. How I felt like a failure in general. Even in beyblading. I had no real talent for it, not like Takao who hardly ever trained and managed to become the world champion. I had to train and practice and work hard. It just all seemed so unfair to me.

I let it all out. And Hiro listened. When I was done, I noticed he had parked the car somewhere. I looked at the clock, it seemed a good amount of time had passed.

'Are you feeling better?' I heard him ask.

'No, I'm starting to realise that I just told you all that stuff. -And that I cried. I think I feel even worse than before.'

He laughed and patted my head. 'Still being a smartass.'

I shrugged. 'I do what I can, I guess.'

'For the record, you're an excellent blader. Your technique and strategy greatly outdo Takao. Takao however happens to have very strong and spirited bit beast. Dragoon has been passed down over generations. It made him very powerful.'

'I'm still a ditz.'

'You haven't been at that school for very long. You still need time to adjust to the new system.'

'But I still have a fucked up family.'

'That you do, I'm sorry.'

I smirked at him, I tried to smile, initially, but that just felt strangely out of character. Thank you. I think I do feel better. -I didn't say that out loud of course! Never!

xxx - xxx - xxx

You'll probably all hate me know for making Kai think he's a ditz and a bad blader. I just figured that everyone, at some point in their teenage life has a point of self-doubt, him included.