Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ The Truth Behind Demons ❯ Sure Fire Fling ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter 19

Rei jumped up and down to test how the sneakers fit. They were a nice fit but he didn't really care for the color; not that it mattered because he didn't bring any money, Rei just assumed that they would be walking around or something. Shopping just seemed like an odd reason to skip school when you could just go on the weekend. Bending down, he pulls the sneaker from his socked foot then stuffed it back into the box on the shelf.

Kai snuck up on Rei's back and wrapped his arms around him. "Find anything you like?" He looks over to the pair the Chinese boy had put back.

"A couple, but, I didn't bring any money with me so I'll get them later."

Reaching to the shelf, Kai pulled them down and handed them to Rei. "Buy them now. I'll pay for them- anything you want."

Shaking his head, he blushed as he just now noticed Kai's arms wrapped possessively around him. "Kai... I couldn't take your money- It would be too weird."

"I've got lots of it, I wouldn't miss it at all." He nuzzles his cheek to Rei's. "Think of it as a Christmas present."

"What about Raion?"

"Him too. I get all my best friends more than one gift you know." He rocked them back and forth. Kai decided today that he would spare no expense in getting the boy to change his mind of being his rather than Tyson's.

Rei seemed to be thinking it over. It really was nice of Kai and it would be rude to turn him down when he's just being nice. Besides, if his nerves got to him he would just pay Kai back. He really hates taking money from other people, he would rather earn it himself to know that whatever he spent it on would be out of his own pocket. No problem. "Alright- but don't go thinking that you're gonna buy me anything I look at, I'll have to sock you or something."

Kai smirked with a nod. "Okay." Though he was lying. He wanted to spoil Rei, he liked to do it. Even if the boy said 'no' he would buy him a car just to make him smile of embarrassment.

"Good. I only want these ones." He places the shoes that Kai handed him back on the shelf and picked up an identical pair but the main color of the sneaker is black instead of white. "Thanks."

"You don't have to be so polite. None of us are." Says Spencer from the other side of the shelves.

"Spying again?" Asks Kai, letting go of his, arm caged, kitten.

"Beats watching Tala asking if a brown boot would look good with white pants." He came from around the shelved area, glancing in boxes as he walked over to them. "Let's just leave him here, he's found his paradise."

"Hmm." Kai looked at his watch. "I'll get him." Tapping Rei on the shoulder, just for that bit of contact, he walked away from them to find his, foot model, friend.

Rei smiled at Spencer, who smiled back. Closing the sneakers into their box, Rei walked over to the counter with the blond behind him. Bryan and Ian are sitting on a bench by the exit praying that a car comes through the glass windows and kills them. They've been in the store for what felt like days but was only an hour. To them, an hour was more than long enough.

"I hope your choice of activity is more entertaining than this." Says Ian to Rei.

With a shrug he says. "I haven't really toured this place much since I moved here. So I'll do whatever you guys wanna do." He takes a seat dropping his box next to Spencer’s. He can hear silly little Russian banter coming from somewhere in the store, when he hears in Japanese, FINE! Ten seconds after that Kai and Tala appear from behind the shelf.

"Can't give a guy five minutes to decide on something." Mutters the red head slinging his purchases onto the counter before the man standing behind it.

Everyone nearly cheered seeing that they were gonna leave now, and brought up anything they had to pay for. Kai checked his watch again; sliding his credit card across the counter he waited for the receipt, wrote his name out on it, then stuffed the returned card back into his wallet. "Let's go."

The six walked out onto the streets of Tokyo. No one paying them any mind; just because they're under aged didn't necessarily mean that they went to school now. It could have been a day off in some of the patrons cases. To others, they just didn't care, the boys were foreigners and probably just came there to vacation. The sky was bright out, though, it looked like the sun wanted to call it quits and let a rain cloud take over or something.

Rei looked up and sighed. "It's nice out." He said to no one.

Everyone else looked up; looking back down they figured it as an odd thing to say and continued down the street in a mutter of words about what kinds of things that they were into because Rei had no clue about any of them personally and he found it nice to learn about people. They took the bus to the Mizuwa Mall; it is a large place that has forty three different shops: the biggest food court, the largest sweets shop, many different things going on with in it, but the main place they wanted to go was the clothing store.

Rei had never seen so many things in one place before. He could visit the city back home, sure, but he never got to go to the mall- he was too young! Lee had his activities; his parents didn't own a car so to him this was like... a delightful, sight sensation. A woman walked around telling Tala he should buy this and that and he was all for every item, Bryan had gone into a dressing room and they haven't seen him since he was pulling out that arm full of clothes. Ian was somewhere complaining about having to buy his jeans in a kids section, and Spencer was looking at jackets.

"This would look really good on you." Says Kai, scaring the life out of Rei.

Rei grabbed the shirt and looked it over. "Oh yeah?" Pressing it to his chest, he turned to a mirror and smiled. "Maybe?"

"Definitely," giving him a push toward the dressing rooms, he stood outside of the door once his friend was inside. "Try it on. I'm gonna look for something to go with it."

Rei took his shirts off then pulled the emerald green colored turtle neck over his head. Looking down at himself then up at the mirror attached to the door, he smiled. It does look nice on him. Why did I wear this today? I look terrible in green- that's why I don't wear it. Shaking his head, he calms his mind a moment. This shirt isn't mine. It belongs to the store. Jumping when the door popped open; Kai smiled at him to ease his nerves that it wasn't some pervert.

Closing the door; he then gestured for Rei to lift his tidal wave of hair so he could put a Figaro style of necklace around the boys neck. Clasping it, he stood back to admire the look. Rei looked at himself in the mirror and smiled.

"It looks good!" He agreed with Kai's silent compliment. "Especially with my jeans. Though, I'm not a jewelry person." He looked up into Kai's eyes with a questioning expression because the ash haired male was gently touching his cheek with the softest brush of his finger tips. "....What are you doing?"

"Nothing wrong- I just like to touch you."

Like a blind person studying my face. Though he had to admit it was flattering. He blushed deeply when Kai leaned in as though he were going to kiss him but instead he only placed his nose to Rei's cheek. Why doesn't he just do it already? Thinks the boy. Just kiss me! I'll let you... Maybe I should be the one to-....

"You always smell nice." Says Kai out of nowhere.

"Hm?"

"Since you sat with us, that first day of high school for you. I've liked the way you smell."

"Kai.... if you wanted to...." The room temperature went up seven thousand degrees again. It was amazing how Kai’s touch could do that. The tiny space became a two second glance in a hole as they were now nearly intertwined with each other again. "You could...."

The Russians hands dropped to the boys hips, he grabbed him tightly to him and-.... The dressing space is flooded with light from outside. Bryan is shaking his head, a disgruntled look on his face.

"It's not like you to give free shows Kai. I can hear you both through the wall."

"Get lost Bryan." He said, voice cold as it could get, yet his face remained trance and soft.

"I would, but, I was here first...." He raised his hand to wave them off.

Pushing Kai away, Rei stepped out of the dressing room. "We should go eat." He states. "I could eat."

Disappointed, Kai sighed. "Yeah. You'd better change first." He came from the dressing room so that his crush could have some privacy. "I'll be out here waiting for you." Bryan laughed at that, receiving a nasty look from his friend. "Why don't you gather the idiots or something useful."

"I don't know Kai, the two of you make a pretty good drama; you should charge people to watch."

"And you should-..."

The dressing room door swung open. "Ready."

"Are you buying these?"

Rei thought about it with a shrug. "I don't think so. I feel weird in turtle necks."

Taking the shirt, Kai stepped away to return it to the place he had taken it from. Rei walked with Bryan to the entrance of the shop to wait for everyone else. It was an odd bit of silence between them, but after a moment, Rei was ready to shrink back into the store. He hated uncomfortable silences. He knew Bryan liked him, not like that, but it still felt like he was being judged. Maybe not specifically by Bryan or any of them really. Just in life, it felt like people were looking at him, mocking on accident because they couldn't hold back with the commentary.

"Are you having a nice day?"

"H-huh?" He blinked and looked away. "Um, yeah. It's really relaxing. Truthfully, school makes my stomach a little upset." It actually hurt right now. He was wondering if he'd be able to eat at all at this point.

"That's good. Hate to have you come all this way and you're bored."

Looking at the amount of baggage the older male has, he asks in curiosity. "You like clothes?"

"Not as much as some people, but I do need to cover up if that's what you mean." He smiled. "A majority of this isn't mine."

Nodding, Rei says. "Oh."

The rest of the herd gathered at the door and they took an escalator to the third floor where the food court is. They all agreed to have pizza since it was the kind of thing you basically couldn't go wrong with, though, the toppings battle can be endless.

"I'll get the table." Says Tala before dashing off.

Rei followed his movement to the center of the area. When he chose a table for them, he pulled; what Rei could only assume, sanitation napkins from his pocket that he used to wipe the table down with. He had forgotten all about telling the other boy about his problem, and remembering now, he hoped that Tala had forgotten too. He really didn't want anyone treating him differently and he would die if the others found out about it. They'd probably leave him there to fend for himself or something.

"What do you want Rei?"

"Something to eat." He said.

"He means toppings." Says Spencer, no hint of teasing in his tone.

"Oh. Sorry... Uuuhh, pineapple and ham."

"Cool we like the same kind." Says the short boy. "We can split it."

"Okay."

Rei watched as the man prepared their lunches. He never trusted food that he didn't see made; it always seemed like these people have attitudes and were just waiting for that one customer that had to be picky about what he liked or the way his food should look.

"Thanks." Says Spencer, who had paid for their meals. Passing a tray to Kai and one to Rei they walked over to the table reserved for them and sat down. Spencer and Kai had chose a meat lovers, and an extra cheese incase anyone didn't like either that or Hawaiian style that Rei and Ian had ordered.

After pulling their selected slices of pizza; they ate and chatted with one another.

"So are you guys all from the same place in Russia, because your accents are different from each other."

Kai shakes his head. "I'm from Moscow, so is Tal'," gesturing with his hand in a sweeping motion. "It's on the outskirts. Bryan and Ian are from Soviet Union, and Spencer is from the Ukraine."

"Mm. I'm from Xin Chao- the mountain area, though, not the city." He took a bite of his food then asked. "How did you all meet? You seem really close to have lived in different parts."

"We went to the same military school in Moscow." Says Tala.

"Bryan told me something about that. Your father ran it?"

"Mine? No. He was a scientist, my stepfather ran the place with the funds from Kai's grandfather."

"He practically owns Russia." Says Kai.

"What about you?" Ian places his food back on the plate. "Did you guys have running water and electricity?"

"Not electricity, we used oil lamps. Some of them had batteries for emergencies, you would just click it on and go."

"Cool." Says the short boy. "I don't know if I could live without electricity."

Rei laughs. "It's easier than you think and without the distraction of television you can venture out a lot. We climbed up and down the cliffs like a rescue team."

Bryan, who is picking things from his food, asks. "How did you wash clothes and things?"

"By hand." He finished swallowing then goes on. "You either take them to the city, or you do it by hand in a washing tub. We still heated out water from outside; even though, it ran from normal faucet."

They all made a sound to show they were impressed with a simple life. Tyson and Ozuma never really cared much about it when Rei spoke of his home. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just thought he missed doing things with out help and they would say things like 'Yeah, they have a lot of laundry mats here' or 'I don't know if I'd wanna get my hands soapy for too long.' So to have people listening was a real kick.

Just as Rei was about to continue with his lunch, he glanced down when something wet hit his hand. "Huh?" A droplet of red stained his cream colored skin. His hand shook a bit, causing him to quickly get up. "I have to use the bathroom!" He announced before dashing off. He hoped he could find one.

Kai stood, but Tala placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll go." Hurrying after the Chinese boy, he grabbed his arm and steered him to where the bathrooms are.

...............

"Does your nose bleed often?" Asks the red head atop his perch on the sink counter. "You've probably got really dry-..."

"Will you shut up."

Tala shrugged. "And you rattle a lot when you walk. Do you have to take meds or something?"

"Not exactly."

"Are you a pill popper?"

"No."

Tala opened Rei's book bag to locate the rattling sound. "Hmm?” He reads aloud the side effects. “Cramping, nausea. Diarrhea. Do you have diarrhea Rei?”

"Will you give me those!" He stuffed them into his bag. "Forget about that. I don't know if I do or don't. I just took one this morning." Rei splashed water on his face hoping that his nose has quit for the day. Reaching for the paper towels he came across a piece of fabric. Opening an eye, he accepts the hanky that the other boy was offering. "Thank you."

"Don't worry, I didn't use it." He watched him clean up before asking. "Soooo. Come on, tell me the big secret. Who am I gonna tell?"

"Kai. Bryan- anyone."

Tala shakes his head, then hops back on to the sink. "You have my word."

"How do you feel about.... people with special needs?"

Tala thought that over. There are lots of meanings to the word special, but he was sure Rei meant, retard. "It makes no difference to me. I'll hate you if I have a reason and if I don't than what do I care what you're like."

Rei huffed to that. "I wish Tyson thought that way."

"What? He called you a couple names or something?"

"Not so much me, but.... See, before school started in August there was a party; we went to the store to shop for it and we saw a kid on the streets in a stroller. He couldn't have been more than twelve and he was in a stroller! Tyson said 'oops poor baby!' when the kid dropped the pacifier from his mouth, and when the boy told him to shut up, Tyson laughed. Ozuma called him gross and...."

Rei's eyes rolled up to the back of his head. Tala watched him curiously for a moment, but when the other boy began to shake, he latched onto him bringing him down to the floor. "Rei!" He smacked his face. "Rei!?" * * *

"You want me to get you a drink from the machine?" Kai sits on the side of the boys bed.

They are all in the hospital, room 24, around the bed ridden younger male. He was so embarrassed to find out that he had passed out in the bathroom and was brought here, not to mention, dressed in a hospital gown- hopefully by a nurse.

"What happened?" He asks.

"You.... I don't know," Says the ash haired Russian. "When we got there you were shaking a lot and screaming."

"I was screaming?" Rei blinked through his memories to see if he could remember what happened, but nothing was coming in. "Yeah, I'd like a drink."

"I've seen this once," Says Ian. "I think you've got food poisoning. It could be from that French horn. Sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't make it."

Bryan felt Rei's forehead. "You could threaten them with a law suit; think of how much they'd give you."

"....I don't think so."

"There you are."

"Uncle Stan." He tried not to shrink away from the man but right now he didn't want everybody touching him. "How did you know I was here?"

"The hospital called me- what happened?"

"Food poisoning, sir." Said Ian.

"Food poisoning! From where?!"

"It doesn't matter-..."

"The Sweet Stuff Bakery."

You're awful chatty for a little guy. Thinks the Chinese boy.

"Rei if you were hungry, you could have just come to the restaurant to eat. You can always eat for free and your little friends." He said looking at all of them with a cocked brow. "Where's Ozuma and that fellow Tyson you like so much?"

"At school, Uncle." He wanted to die. Can you die from food poisoning?

"What are you doing out of school?"

"Umm..."

"It happened during math, Mr. Kon." Explains Bryan. "He didn't feel good. We all left early so we could get something from the bakery to have for breakfast then we left."

"Oh. Well, I'm here now so you should be getting back to school now."

"Right." Bryan waved a hand. "Come on you guys. Tell Kai we left, okay Rei?"

"Uh-huh." He watched his friends walk out, wondering if they were seriously going back to school or if they just planned to pick up where they left off. "Uncle, really- they'll probably let me go home in a few minutes. The gown is just for x-rays or something." He swats at the mans hand.

"Man Rei! We heard what happened!"

Oh my God. He clamped his eyes shut in horror as Tyson walked in with Ozuma trailing behind him. Who next? His teachers; ready to scold him for skipping. "Hey Tyson." The boy walked over to the bed, something in his hand that Rei eyed.

"We came as soon as we heard. What happened?"

"It's nothing- just a little food poisoning from something I ate this morning."

Climbing onto the bed, Ozuma shook his head. "Mariam had that once. She threw up all over the place. Did you throw up?"

"I don't think so."

"I'm gonna find the doctor. We'll get you home to bed in no time."

"Thanks."

The second the man was out of sight, Tyson leaned over and gave his boyfriend a kiss. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I feel fine now. Kind of like I've been kicked, but, I feel fine." Gesturing to his hand, he asks. "What's this?"

"I got you chocolate from the gift shop." He laughed with a hand behind his head, feeling sheepishly guilty. "If I had known that it was food poisoning, I would have gotten you a teddy bear or something."

"It's fine. Thank you." Opening the lid, he held it out. "You want one?" Noticing, he looks up at his boyfriend. "There's three missing."

"I eat when I'm nervous."

"Wow. You're worse than those shaking dogs then."

Tyson just laughed again, only it was different than before. "Maan, what a relief." He says to himself.

"What is?"

"Honestly, when Cheif told me that those guys weren't at school and then I found out you weren't at school, I thought you had skipped with them."

"I did skip with them."

Tyson blinked in shock. "Gee... don't deny it or anything."

"Why would I? You wanted to know what was going on." He shrugged. "I have nothing to hide. And if they hadn't brought me here-..."

"Kai's here?! Where is he?"

"Forget about Kai!" He snapped. "He doesn't matter. You're here and I'm glad that you are because-..."

"Nothing to feel guilty about...." His eyes looked shaded with jealousy and anger. "I hope you get better Rei. See ya."

"Tyson?" But he was already out of the room. "What is wrong with him?"

"Come on Rei, you're being kind of a jerk about all of this." Says Ozuma.

"I am?"

Nodding, the shorter boy pops a chocolate into his mouth and sighs. "Never mind that. Guess who scored with Zeo?"

"Uuuhhh, you."

"Yup."

Rei laughed with joy. "That's great! When did this happen?"

"Last night. I went to his music thing and next thing I know he's over at my house and we're getting naked. It was incredible!"

"I'm really happy for you. Is he gonna sit with us at lunch?"

"Us?"

"You, me, and Tyson. I am gonna come back next semester."

"About that.... I think you may have lost serious points with Ty'. You skipped out on his track meet."

Rei's eyes widen. "Damn.... I forgot all about that. I went home and just felt so lagged that.... Oh man... No wonder he's so mad at me."

"Yeah Rei, you'd better cut it out before he drops you."

"I will....."

"I brought your homework from middle and Kenny brought it from the high school."

"Thanks."

"I gotta go. Mariam and me have dance and I shouldn't be late. I hate being partners with my sister, she always tries to lead and then makes jokes about it."

Rei couldn't even crack a smile. He just kept thinking about what Ozuma had just said. Tyson wants to get rid of me? How can he.... Because of one time? He frowned when Ozuma touched his hand before leaving him alone. Curling up on the bed, he fought tears as they slid down his face.