Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Alarming Attachment ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Alarming Attachment

Summary: It was suppose to be a relaxing vacation, but for Ray it’s anything but. Meeting a girl called Asia who annoys him and dealing with Kai who appears annoyed with him, what’s a neko to do? And what is it that Kai is hiding?

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Arista “Asia” Rainstorm. 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, again if any likeness, it’s purely coincidental.

Warning: Usage of a female OC. She is not the hero of the story, and the fic will not be centered on her. Any fans of OC pairings should leave now. Do not ask me to turn this fic into a Ray/OC or any other canon character/OC as I cannot stand such pairings. I have no hesitation in bashing my own created characters. Female Kai.

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Chapter Fourteen:

Doing his best to ignore the pungent disinfectant smell that always seemed to haunt the hallways of any hospital, Ray lingered in a doorway, his amber eyes trained at one particular spot. On a pristine white bed in an equally dull room, laid the form of a very extraordinary being. Sleeping soundly, Kai looked almost angelic like with her usually spiky hair now in soft curls as they framed her face. Her blue triangles that used to adorn her cheeks are gone, no traces of them at all. She wore a light blue hospital gown as the white blankets laid folded on her abdomen.

Despite the small white bandages that cover parts of her skin on her arms, Kai looked truly beautiful as her obviously female chest raised and fell with each breathe. Her breathing had even out, much better than when Ray held her in his arms back at the hotel. Though, still a little strained, her breathes came easier now and she didn’t appear to be in that much pain.

Ray’s eyes softened as he walked soundlessly into the room and he stopped by the bed. The dash to the hospital was a nerve-wracking one for him. Sitting in the back of a taxi while his remaining teammates circled around him like vultures, firing off rapid questions left, right and centre almost did his head in. Of course, there wasn’t much for him to tell; not that he was in any mood to, anyway. He just wanted to get to the hospital and see Kai.

He just wanted to see her again.

Carefully, Ray lifted his hand and gently trailed his fingers cover Kai’s cheek, a sense of relief appearing when he realized her cheek was warm with life. Kai suddenly sighed and her brow creased with slight discomfort as she leaned her head towards his hand. Ray smiled and gently caressed Kai’s cheek, his heart filling with warmth when Kai uttered a soft sigh and relaxed in her sleep.

Oh, if she wasn’t unconscious right now, he’d kiss her for being so cute.

“She’s quite pretty, isn’t she?” A familiar female voice asked behind him. However, the voice didn’t startled him and Ray simply continued to admired Kai as she slept.

Ray ran his eyes over Kai’s face and nodded his head. “Yeah…” he whispered, not wanting to disturb her for the moment. Reluctantly, he removed his hand and chuckled when Kai made a noise of disapproval. He turned to Hilary, motioned for her to be quiet and pointed near the door.

“It’s unbelievable, really,” Hilary said as she and Ray stepped out of the room to give Kai some much-needed peace. “How she was able to hide her gender from us for so long.”

“Yeah, it is,” Ray nodded, once again turning his eyes back to Kai, seemingly reluctant to let her out of his sight again. “I mean, I shared a room with her for two years! You’d think I’d notice something. But…she’s always been good at hiding, in every sense of the word.”

Hilary nodded and turned to look back into the room as well, her eyes holding a sense of concern for her friend’s health and well-being. Ray turned to her for a moment, looking at her with a sense of curiosity. Hilary, as well as the other members of their little family, had held a great fondness toward Kai. Tyson even told him that Hilary once referred to Kai as cute.

Did she have a crush on her too?

“You had a crush on Kai at one stage, didn’t you?” Ray decided to ask, keeping his words short and to the point and had to bite his lip when a feeling of jealously suddenly appeared.

“I admired Kai,” Hilary was quick to interject and gave Ray a look that held a sense of amusement, like she knew he was feeling a bit jealous. “And I still do. You guys are like brothers to me, and the thought of dating one of my brother is just…ew…”

Ray just had to laugh at the look of disgust on Hilary’s face, her nose cutely scrunched up and a pout on her lips. “No offense,” he said, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder. “But the thought of dating you, who we see as a sister, is pretty unnerving as well.”

“No offense taken,” Hilary replied as she waved her hand in dismissal. “Besides, you and Kai would make an adorable couple.” Suddenly, she grinned and elbowed Ray in the ribs, giving him a smug look. “See, I always knew there was something between the two of you.”

Ray immediately turned his gaze back to Kai and he nodded, knowing to what Hilary was referring to; how they would always find themselves together somehow. Sitting next to each other all the time, be it in the comfort of the dojo, their hotel room or on some sort of transport.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“So…are the two of you dating?” Hilary asked quickly, giving Ray the impression she wanted to ask that question ages ago.

Ray froze for a moment and then slowly turned to face her, slight amusement building when he realized that Hilary was looking at him in a dreamy like state. He could have sworn there were hearts dancing about in her eyes. “Kinda,” he told her, slightly uncomfortable as he wasn’t sure himself. He adores Kai. A lot. But he wasn’t sure where they stand at the moment. There hadn’t been time to figure out what they have between them.

“It’s hard to explain.”

“What do you feel towards her?” Hilary asked.

“I adore her,” Ray told her, the words coming out easily and freely. “I have for a long time.”

A warm smile appeared on Hilary’s lips and she nodded, happy with the answer.

“I need to speak with Kai,” Ray said, a sense of determination in his voice, his eyes not once leaving Kai. “About why she’s been hiding all these years.”

Again, Hilary nodded. “We all would like to know that.”

“I wish to speak with her alone.”

Hilary blinked and snapped her attention to her dark-haired teammate. “What?”

“Think about it,” Ray said as he gave Hilary a pointed look. “If we all push our way in her room, she might think we are ganging up on her. She’s been ousted in the worse possible way. I think we need to be just that little bit understanding and delicate towards her.”

Once again, Hilary blinked as she stood silently, before her face softened into a look of understanding with a tinge of guilt. “You’re right,” she said. “I understand what you’re saying. She would feel intimidated if we all go.”

Ray could tell there was a sense of disappointment in Hilary’s voice and he tried to reassure the female. “If Kai allows it, I can tell you what she tells me, ok?”

That suggestion seemed to be satisfactory for Hilary as she nodded and turned away from the door. “I’m going to go out and get Kai some girl clothing. It might help in getting used to Kai being a girl,” she said before adding, “For us and for her.”

“Good idea,” Ray said as he nodded his approval. “Oh, Hilary?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t get anything too pink, frilly or girly, ok?” Ray said with a slightly pained look on his face, seemingly imaging Kai’s reaction of being placed in a frilly little frock with pink ribbon and bows. “I don’t think Kai would like that very much.”

Hilary couldn’t help but giggle at the pleading expression on Ray’s face as he would probably have to be the one to calm Kai down if she did get her something outside her own tastes. “Sure,” she replied, reassuring the neko before she turned on her heel and began to walk away, her hand on her chin. “Hmm, I wonder what size Kai is…” she muttered.

Ray watched her leave, a sense of pride in his being at how well his teammates were behaving at the moment. Although, all concerned and intrigued with Kai’s situation, none of them were loitering around, making pests of themselves. In fact, in a rare case of maturity, Tyson was actually helping the police with some of their enquires, as he knew most of what happened from a brief chat with Ray.

Just as he stepped back into the room, he heard a light noise coming from the bed. He looked up just in time to see Kai stir, her eyes blinking wearily at her surroundings. She looked confused, lost even so Ray quickly made his way over to her bedside and took her hand to comfort her.

“Easy there, Kai,” he said, smiling warmly when Kai snapped her head toward him, her eyes still appearing unfocused. “You’re at the hospital. Asia isn’t here. She’s under police guard, don’t worry.”

“Hospital?” Kai murmured as she struggled to sit up but ended up leaning to the side and falling into Ray’s chest. Despite her dizziness, a light blush appeared on her cheeks when she remembered how Ray held her against his bare chest while she was half-naked and how he was not the slightest bit awkward or uncomfortable about it.

“You ok, Kai?” Ray asked as he carefully wrapped his arms around Kai’s body and held her in his arm once again. A soft smile adorned his lips as he notes how he liked having Kai against him like that. It felt natural for him to hold her tightly in his arms and never want to let her go.

Kai tried to push away so she could look into his face, but Ray refused to let her go. He simply tightened his arms around her and rested his cheek on her hair, tucking her head under his chin. Kai struggled for a moment, but then relented and rested her ear against his chest and listened to his heartbeat as she folded her hands against her own chest and sighed.

“You have questions, don’t you?” She asked softly, almost afraid to break the silence between them, but she knew it had to be done. She had hidden herself for long enough. Personally, she was surprised the room wasn’t packed with her teammates, all asking questions at the same time. Once again, they managed to surprise her.

It appeared that Kai had underestimated her teammates’ just a little. Was she too busy trying to hide herself from them to take note at how much they have matured over the years she spent with them?

“A few questions,” Ray said. “If I could.”

Kai drew in a deep breathe and released it on a sigh. “You want to know why I’m dressing as a guy.”

“Yeah.”

Kai hesitated in answering for a moment, not sure whether to go with a long-winded story or just the short blunt version. She decided to go with the second option, simply because she wasn’t comfortable talking about herself and her life in great detail just yet. She has always been taught to answer briefly and to the point.

If Ray wanted to know more, she can tell him a more detailed story later.

When she was ready…

“It’s simple, really,” Kai muttered, a sense of bitterness in her voice and eyes. “My grandfather didn’t want a granddaughter, he wanted a grandson, but was stuck with me. To rectify that problem, I was forced to start dressing and acting like a guy. Pretty easy, considering I was raised in an all boys Abbey in Russia.”

Ray half-expected Kai to be a little vague on the exact details and he tried to refrain himself from pressing her further on the facts she gave him, like why her grandfather wanted a grandson and what happened to her parents. Well, he kinda already knows the answer to that last question. They were both deceased, apparently killed when Kai was very young.

For as long as he had known Kai, she rarely speaks about herself, if not at all. She expertly dodged any personal questions, somehow turning the questions back to the person answering the question in the first place. So, to save Kai from becoming stressed or hostile toward him, Ray decided to let that explanation slide for now. It obviously took a lot of Kai’s courage to even tell him that much.

“You were the only girl?” he asked, that sense of jealously raising its head again when he thought about Kai being in the same place with a bunch of wild and manic guys. Sure, they probably had no idea Kai was a girl, but that’s beside the point!

“Yeah,” Kai murmured, a sense of surprise in her tone at how Ray was letting her move on from her short and blunt explanation. “They were completely forbidden. There weren’t even any female doctors in there.”

Ray’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“Boris and Voltaire were pretty sexist,” Kai answered once again bluntly. “They just didn’t want to believe that a women had any sort of use other than cleaning. And when I rebelled against him that time in Russia, it only strengthen his belief that females are nothing but trouble.”

Ah, so that was why Voltaire wanted a grandson instead of a granddaughter. Explained a lot, actually. Voltaire was always known to be a tad, ok, really eccentric. So making Kai dress as a guy simply because he didn’t want a granddaughter seemed pretty logical if you added him into the equation. But still, there’s still one thing Kai hadn’t answered yet…

“But I don’t really care what he thinks anymore,” Kai continued, still sounding bitter and annoyed. “He can just rot in that prison cell of his.”

“If you rebelled against your grandfather, why didn’t you completely free yourself by revealing your gender?” Ray asked, tightening his arms reassuringly around her when he felt her stiffen in his arms.

“You…,” Kai murmured before she suddenly slumped into his arms, the blush reappearing on her cheeks. “You weren’t supposed to get close to me. I had it all figured out. I would help you guys to the World Championships and then leave, fulfilling my duty as the team captain. But…”

The corner of Ray’s mouth twitched into a smile, an almost playful one. “We got under your skin.”

“Yeah…The longer I spent with you, the harder it was to leave,” Kai continued with a tinge of guilt in her voice. “And the more difficult it was to keep my secret.”

“I’m sorry,” Ray said suddenly as he nuzzled his cheek into her soft, silk like hair. “I feel foolish.”

“What?” Kai stuttered, placing her hands on his chest and abruptly pushed herself back so she could stare up at him with wide eyes. “Why?”

Ray simply smiled at her, gentle and loving. “I shared a room with you for two years, Kai, and didn’t realize that you were a girl,” he shook his head in disbelief before he turned to give Kai a concerned look. “Those bandages, didn’t they hurt?”

“I…,” Kai stuttered as she lifted a hand and placed it over her chest, suddenly becoming self-conscious and embarrassed of her feminine assets. “I’ve been wearing them for so long that I’m used to them. I feel uncomfortable without them.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable now?”

Kai looked off to the side, her blush darkening a shade of two. “…yeah.”

“Well, you better get used to it,” Ray told her firmly.

Kai tilted her head to the side in query. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve cracked a rib, fractured another and bruised a lung,” he explained as he remembered what the doctor told him as he entered the hospital and demanded to know Kai’s condition. “We can’t have anything tight around your rib cage until they heal.”

“But-!”

Ray quickly placed a finger to her lips to hush her. “Besides, we know you’re a girl now. There’s no need to hide anymore.”

Kai looked at him for a moment before her eyes softened and she nodded, knowing that he spoke the truth. There was no point in hiding now. Everyone knows so there was no way she could deny that.

She just wished it happened in a different way…

“You were jealous of Asia, weren’t you?” Ray suddenly asked, as a grin appeared on his lips.

“What?”