Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Intoxication ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Intoxication

Chapter Two

Okay, before I start Chapter Two, I'd like to thank Tsubasa for her review. All at once it was the best, the weirdest and the longest review I've ever gotten, and I've gotten some strange ones! Thanks for taking some time to give me an insight into what it's like reading one of my fics. But I never take criticism lying down, so I'd like to just clear up some of the things you pointed out.

* I have no Roman numeral fonts on my computer. I improvised, albeit awkwardly.

* I was taught word processing by a nun in an Irish Catholic school. Read any Maeve Binchy novel and you'll probably find the same formatting. It's a hard habit to break.

* When I wrote the story, I had markers up to define scene changes. It must have switched when I was uploading it.

*The breath-throat clash I've always written and spoken the way I wrote it in the story. What it means is that he was breathing away quite happily and the shock of what he saw in the picture caused his throat to constrict of its own accord. My Grandmother was very fond of that saying, grammatically correct or not.

* The fact that He considers Himself an art connoisseur is an unlovable trait of this particular character, so it is an if on the part of the reader and His firm opinion.

* I know it's too short. I wrote it at three in the morning and I was a wee bit drunk.

* When I was in school, one thing that really angered me was that I could write a really fantastic essay but it would still be marked with a low percentage because I forgot to refer to god/him/himself/the lord/anyone even remotely deified with capital letters. Giving this honour to the villain of my story is a small, but sweet, revenge.

* I don't think I'll be able to get away with a Pg 13 rating. I'll probably end up changing it.

Okay, enough of this. On with the show!

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It was a rare night that Kai was unable to sleep. Normally, he was so in tune with his body that he could shut off his mind anytime, anywhere. The night of the paper debacle, he felt a strange burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. It was his body's way of telling him something was wrong. It had always been a valuable quirk during his training at the abbey, and during his more taxing Bey battles. That night, however, it was just a nuisance. With a groan, he rose from his bed and switched on the lamp. The hotel room, bare and sterile during the day, gloomy and claustrophobic at night, achieved a sort of cosy feel under the dim light of the lamp. Kai glanced over to his team-mate's bed.

Rei was buried underneath the covers curled up like a dormouse. Only the top of his head and his eyes were visible, his eyelashes fluttering gently. Was he in the throes of a dream, or was the sudden introduction of light into the room disturbing him? Kai didn't hang around long enough to find out. He pulled on his clothes quickly, snatched up his Beyblade and turned of the lamp before leaving the room.

From underneath His wide-brimmed Stetson, He watched the Russian boy hasten through the large hotel bar towards the old-fashioned courtyard. It seemed that He had been blessed with a stroke of luck, but He felt a surge of annoyance nevertheless. He had gone to all the bother of preparing to deal with the boy who wasn't his target, only to find it wouldn't be necessary. Still, it meant He would be able to leave with His prize much quicker than He expected. That was a good thing, He mused, He didn't know how much longer He could stand the bar full of commoners. Nothing special about any of them, though they all thought themselves so important, so wonderful.

" You are nothing compared to me!" He was dying to scream at them, to make them understand, to make them see what he already knew. He was better, better than them all, and they were so corrupted by their slovenly, wretched existences that they failed to see it…

… He rubbed His temple, trying to will away the pain. His rages were becoming harder to keep under control. But then, it was no time for rages. If He didn't hurry, the opportunity that He had been blessed with would go to waste, and He would have to take care of the Russian boy. Not that it bothered Him, but when one has such fortune it would be a crime to let it go to waste. So He rose from His seat, picked up His black medical bag and made his way to the lift.

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The door made a soft clicking sound as it opened, and Rei's bed was drenched in the cold, overly bright shine of the light bulb in the hallway. Rei seemed to know, even in his sleep, and he gathered the covers around him more securely. The intruder smiled fondly, the way one might smile at a kitten when it trips over its own feet. He closed the door, feeling more comfortable in the darkness. He had excellent night vision, so good it was almost like having a permanent set of infra-red goggles. He saw the pale outline of the sleeping figure quite clearly. Gently, He pulled back the covers, trying not to wake the boy and make His task unnecessarily difficult. Then, for a while, He just stood still.

The boy in the photograph was even more stunning up close. To any normal passer-by, Rei was as close to perfectly beautiful as a person could get. Even things that weren't immediately noticeable, such as bone structure and muscle tone, seemed to be perfectly balanced. But He wasn't just any casual admirer. He was an artist and a lover of art, and He saw the tiny, almost imperceptible flaws. The split ends in that long ebony hair, the beginnings of stress lines around the eyes, the way his teeth protruded slightly over the bottom lip as he breathed… all this could be fixed. Then, there was his age. He tended to go for men much older, more mature, just like he preferred Renaissance paintings to those of the medieval era. But, He mused, great art is timeless, and so is great beauty. Wasn't Helen of Troy ten years old when she was first married?

While He was caught up in His thoughts, Rei started to wake. He was a light sleeper under most circumstances, and he had been on edge all evening, for reasons unknown to himself. Rei also had a sense for when the atmosphere in a room has changed, much the same way animals seem able to tell when someone is upset or stressed. The man at the bed noticed that his subject was stirring, and cursed Himself for getting so caught up in His musings. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the needle and the small vial of cloudy liquid. Then, the boy sat up. He rubbed his eyes drowsily, and saw a figure in the dark.

" Kai? Is that you?"

The man pierced the foil cap of the liquid with the tip of the needle, urging it along. He didn't have much time left. Rei's eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he realised with a start that there was a stranger in his room. And that he was alone. And probably in mortal danger. He practically leaped out of the bed, only to have a horribly powerful arm close on his and slam him back down. Rei felt his head connect briefly with the wall, and a blinding pain followed with a feeling of gushing fluid surrounded his skull. Then, a voice assailed him from the pitch black.

" Don't do that again. I don't want you damaged."

There was something in that silky, seductive tone that had Rei terrified. He couldn't pinpoint it, but he felt a trace of utter madness in those few ordinary words. Ordinary words, indeed, but when spoken with that voice they took on some malevolent life of their own. Rei smelled His breath on his face before he felt it, it held the scent of an exotic wine that had become poisoned with some unknown toxin. The voice again.

" Don't say anything, don't struggle. Just accept your fate like a good child, and we need not be here any longer than we should be."

There was a dull stinging sensation in Rei's left arm, but he didn't dare fight. He already figured out that, whoever this man was, He was dangerous. He would try to figure out who and what He was before he could fight against Him, otherwise he's end up just plain old dead. Rei's mind started to lose focus, his eyes slid shut, and the muscles that he'd held rigid with terror relaxed with merciful unconciousness.

The man smiled. Now came the really ingenious part of his plan. Folded up in his smaller medical bag was a larger piece of luggage that could be expanded to six times its compact size. His captive was just about small enough and just about lithe enough to fit into the case with some degree of comfort. He packed the boy in with his knees against his chest and his arms pressed against his face. Rei, being dead to the world, felt nothing of this.

He walked out of the hotel unnoticed, dressed all in black and carrying two pieces of luggage.

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Kai remained at the courtyard from the wee hours of the morning right up to midday of the next day. The other Bladebreakers were due to arrive at around eleven for a training session, but Kai liked to be one step ahead. Plus that workout he'd put himself through all night helped distract him from the feeling of unease he had been nursing.

Eleven o clock passed, then eleven thirty, then twelve. Kai wasn't worried. The others, especially Takao, had a habit of being late. Twelve thirty passed by. Kai took a walk around the hotel grounds. One o clock came and went, still no Bladebreakers. Kai felt mildly irritated, though the burning sensation in his stomach intensified. When the clock in the fake clock tower at the end of the hotel chimed for one thirty, he was about to storm into the hotel and get each and every one of them outside for training. Just as he was about to open the doors, they opened from the inside and Max collided with him. They landed in a graceless heap on the cement paving, but Kai had no time to be annoyed. Max launched into a tirade of incoherent babble.

" What? Slow down Max, I can't understand you!" Max was obviously upset, his clothes looked like the had been thrown on and there was a wild look in his eyes. Kai laid his hand and the blonde boy's head and attempted to calm him down. Finally, when Max got his breath back, he explain why he was so harried.

" Rei's missing. We can't find him anywhere!"

Kai gripped Max's arm so tightly that the younger boy winced in pain. The burning in his stomach had become a full-blown conflagration.

" Max, tell me everything. But first tell me you're not overreacting, and that this isn't some stupid joke."

Kai already knew Max was serious, but nevertheless his heart sank into his shoes when Max shook his head.

" He wasn't in his room, Kai. We looked all over the hotel, and the staff say they didn't see him leave. There's cameras on every exit, but none of them caught him. And there was a needle by the bed…"

At this last part, Kai shoved Max away from where he was sitting, half off half on his lap, and tore up the stairs to the room he's been sharing with Rei. He threw open the door with such force that it ricocheted off of the wall and nearly slammed shut again. He didn't really know what he had hoped to find, but what he did find made him feel sick.

The small room was empty, the bed he's left Rei in the previous night abandoned and cold. The blankets were pushed to the bottom of the bed, a sure sign that there was something amiss. Even after getting up, Rei usually left the bedcovers sprawled across the mattress. There was a small, almost imperceptible dent in the wall, a telltale mark of a struggle maybe? Worst of all, the syringe Max had mentioned was sitting on the nightstand beside an empty glass bottle like something out of a disgusting practical joke. Kai already knew it wasn't a joke.

Takao burst into the room at that moment, pale and panting heavily. He leaned onto Kai's shoulder and gave him a slightly better account of what was going on than Max had been able to.

" I came in here at around quarter to eleven. No-one's seen him since last night. I even asked the hotel staff to look at the security tapes. Nothing! He couldn't leave the hotel without being seen, Kai! What are we going to do?"

Kai walked over to his own bed, and sat on it gingerly.

" Call the police. Tell them we think our friend has been kidnapped. We'll take it from there."

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Kai had it made up in his own mind that he didn't like Officer Kane. Even his physical appearance was cause to dislike him. He was a big man with a pot belly, pockmarked skin and missing several teeth, possibly because of that toothpick he insisted on chewing. But what Kai really hated about him was the way he fondled the sheets on Rei's bed, the way he scratched his double chin and smiled when he examined the dent in the wall, the way he casually tossed the empty vial into the air and deftly caught it. The other officers were gathering forensic evidence from various points of the room, but Officer Kane was just strolling around and smirking to himself. Takao and Max sat on Kai's bed, watching the proceedings with glazed eyes. Kai himself was leaning against the wall nearest the door, glaring at Officer Kane. Finally, the policemen filed out of the room, one of them stopping to whisper to Officer Kane. Kane nodded, then he spoke in his cigarette-burnished drawl to the boys.

" Okay, boys. Got a few questions to ask ya."

Kai crossed the room and sat between Takao and Max. His temper flared up when Kane sat on Rei's bed. The officer began, though he didn't take out a notebook to write anything down.

" So when did y'all notice that yer little friend was AWOL?"

Tyson answered. " About quarter to eleven. I was coming to wake him up for our training session."

" What was this training for, exactly?"

" Beyblading. We won the World Championships last year."

" I see. So you four are pretty high profile, right?"

" I guess. In beyblading circles, anyway."

" Right. Did Mr. Kon have anyone special in his life, girlfriend, boyfriend, sugar daddy, that kind of thing?"

" No." Kai answered so suddenly and firmly that Max nearly fell of the bed in shock. Kane's mouth widened into a filthy grin.

" You sound very sure."

" I know my team."

" Right. Any admirers, then? Any you know of?"

" There was a girl he had some history with, but she's in china with the rest of her team. Anyway, they're just friends now."

" Okay then. Did you notice any strange behaviour from him recently?

" No. Everything was normal," Max spoke up, sounding on the verge of tears.

" Calm down, son. It's just a question. Now about that needle, is it possible that it was for Mr, Kon's personal use?"

" What?" Kai's blood was boiling. This so-called policeman was pushing it…"

" Is it possible that the needle was for recreational purposes?"

" Well, why don't you just come out and say it? Is Rei a drug addict, isn't that what you want to know?" Now Takao was nearly in tears.

" No." Kai sounded eerily calm compared to the other two. " I'd know if he was. It would have affected his Beyblading performance. Anyway, what about the bottle? Is it some sort of fun-filled hallucinogen?"

" As a matter of fact, it ain't," growled Kane. The little blue haired shit was getting on his last nerve. " that'll be all for now, boys. I need anything else, I'll let you know. Kid's probably just throwing a tantrum, he'll be back soon. Don't worry so much."

Kane waddled out of the room towards the lift, with Kai staring daggers at him until he was out of sight. He turned back to his fellow team mates. Takao was staring out the window at the departing police, while Max was hunched over with his face nearly touching his knees. Both of them looked drained. Kai paced over to the window and watched Officer Kane struggle awkwardly into the front seat of his car.

" Hey, Kai?"

Takao's voice sounded reedy and thin, totally at odds with its normal vibrancy.

" Do you think he's right? That Rei's just wandered off somewhere?"

Kai laughed, a brittle sound that held no mirth.

" There's an impact spot on the wall, one of the boards holding up the bed is broken, there's an empty bottle of some sort of sedative on the table and all of Rei's clothes are still here. What do you think, Takao?"

Takao clamped a hand over his mouth and sank down on the bed.

" Rei's been kidnapped. And the police don't give a shit."

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Officer Kane took another look at the photograph of the missing boy. Hm. Good-looking kid, he thought. He chewed down hard on his toothpick as he spoke.

" Put this incident in the Borgia file."

His partner, who was driving, looked surprised.

" Come on, Ted! That kid's what, fifteen? That's almost ten years too young to be a Borgiac."

" When it comes to maniacs, and especially this maniac, age means nothing."