Disclaimer: Does it look like I own Beyblade?

Warning: Heh. Um…course language. Yaoi. A little violence but nothing you won't be able to handle. Etc etc…

AN: Your reviews were inspiring. Thank you. Sorry it's late! But I tried. I really, truly did try.

Lot's of people were surprised about my age. Odd. Is there a reason for that…?

Can I also state that I do realize the grammar in the speech can be a little …screwy, but it's only like that because it's how they talk. For example: "It don't matter" – though technically the correction would be "It doesn't matter" it's written differently because that's the way it's being spoken. Anyway, that was just to clear that up.

"Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!"

"Rei. Shut up."

"Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!"

"Rei. I'll ask you one more time..."

"Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!"

"That's it!"

"Aahhhhhh!"

"Kai! Get off of my Rei!"

"Tell him to shut up!"

Tala laughed cheerfully and shook his head. How he fell in love with such a juvenile boy as Kai, he'll never know. Then again, Rei wasn't exactly Mr. Maturity. He easily proved that point by continuously chanting 'Zoo! Zoo!' during the entire bus trip. It was a constant battle to keep from strangling the raven-haired adolescent.

The bus jerked to a stop and Mrs. Cox stood up gingerly. She eyed everyone with hawk eyes, before smiling and taking out her clipboard.

Kai bitterly sat himself back down next to Tala. He stared heatedly at the floor, red eyes contemplating hard. Rei must have put him in a bad mood.

Signing tiredly, Tala laced his slender fingers through his lover's own, lightly squeezing it. Kai didn't squeeze back.

He frowned, stroking the older teen's cheek lovingly, before resting his finger under his chin and drawing Kai up to look at him. His blood eyes revealed indifference, but Tala could discern the irritation in his depths.

"Tala. I love you." Tala smiled, pressing his lips gently on Kai's for just one sweet moment.

"I love you too, Kai," he whispered, squeezing his lover's hand again. Kai squeezed back and smirked, drawing Tala into his lap and kissing down his neck. The redhead laughed and answered back to Mrs. Cox as she called out his name from her clipboard.

"Get a room," Rei joked, ruffling Kai's hair and laughing.

"No, I like to show everyone how much I love my Tala," Kai retorted playfully, hugging his Tala close to him.

"Alright everybody. Get out of here and learn something for goodness-sake! But stay in groups and we meet back here at 3.00pm. Have fun!"

"Tigers!"

"Wolves!"

"I want to see the birds."

"Birds aren't nearly as interesting as Tigers!"

"Wolves are better!"

"I think Kai should decide, seeing as he doesn't care."

Kai looked up from his cell phone, giving Bryan a blank stare. Rei smiled and tugged on his arm, trying to grab his attention.

"C'mon Kai. Tigers are better! Please say we can see the tigers first!"

Tala appeared suddenly on his right, baby blue eyes staring up at him, pleading. Kai rolled his eyes. Oh great. What had Bryan gotten him into?

"Wolves Kai. You know wolves are way better. We should so see them first."

"No, Tigers are better!"

"No! Wolves are better!"

Kai grounded his teeth together. He had to say something before he exploded.

"Alright you two. I know which one we should see first…"

The four of them stood in front of the reptile display, Kai and Bryan watching the snake show, and Tala and Rei sulking at the front entrance. They hadn't gotten their choice, therefore they were being stubborn.

"This is so stupid, Tala. How come we had to go see the reptiles? The reptiles suck," Rei said despairingly. His golden eyes scanned the area with indifference. He didn't care for some stupid scaly animals. He wanted to see the tigers, the magnificent beasts he had always been so fond of since just as child, like the times when his parents would read him his favourite bedtime story.

He smiled at the thought, sun-kissed eyes glazing over with emotion. It had been only then when he had been truly happy, with his mum and real dad, the dad that use to always play with him and teach him about the world, the dad that had traveled the world and would tell him of his adventures in Africa with the tigers.

His real dad…his hero…

"I know what you mean, Rei. I say once we're finished here we should split up. You and Bryan go and see the tigers, and Kai and I go and see the Wolves."

Rei shook his head from his thoughts as Tala brought him back to reality. He nodded, finding the suggestion a very logical idea. They should have just done that in the first place.

Smiling, Rei skipped joyously to Bryan, deciding to tell his lover Tala's brilliantly simple idea, only to be stopped mid-way by four men, almost twice his age and size. They loomed over him, their broad shoulders veiling his vision from seeing his beloved boyfriend. Hard eyes stared down lustfully at the raven-haired teen, making him hesitant to move.

"Yes?" he asked, trying not to let his fear show. One of the men; a giant man with hair like fire, smirked down at him; revealing yellow, rotting teeth beneath cracked lips. Rei looked away in disgust, desperately wishing his friends were there to aid him.

"We just wanna ask ya somethin' kid," he spat hungrily, his dark aqua eyes roaming from the tanned, flawless skin to the muscular arms and well-built figure. One of the men standing beside him leaned over into the redhead's ear.

"Look at that body. I bet he'd be so good. He's probably a screamer," the man whispered, licking his lips as his burgundy eyes followed the other man's gaze. Fear wash over Rei at the man's words. He felt himself take a tentative step backwards, shrinking under their lustful gaze.

"No way! He's definitely a moaner," the other man said, black eyes wandering down the slender body.

"Heh, as if. He's a heavy breather. For sure."

"Hey kid. Lookin' for a good time? We sure are," the man purred into Rei's ear, brushing the soft cheekbone and making Rei shy away from the touch. The four men surrounded him, making it impossible for him to go anywhere. Kai and Bryan weren't at the snake display anymore, and Tala wasn't standing by the front entrance. There was no one else at the reptile exhibition. Just him…and four big, ugly men.

"You lost Rei! How could you lose Rei?"

"Bryan, it's not Tala's fault. Don't yell at him!"

"Shut up, Hiwatari," Bryan snapped, shoving Kai to the floor hard. He stepped around the stunned teen, bringing his pale face right into the redhead's. He glared dangerously, grabbing the collar of the younger male's shirt and pulling violently.

"How could you lose Rei? He was right with you!" Bryan growled, jerking Tala against the hard stonewall of the birds enclosure. He could hear the large crack Tala's back made as it connected, and the vulnerable whimper that escaped the pink lips.

"You were supposed to be watching him, Tala!" Bryan yelled angrily, landing a punch on the redhead's pale cheek. His blue eyes widened as the pain shot him in the side of the face. He fell to the floor, his shaking hands nursing his bruising cheek. Shit, Bryan's punches hurt.

"You jerk. Don't touch him!" Kai yelled, throwing his own firm punch at Bryan's jaw. The oldest male cringed at the taste of blood surging on his tongue.

"Don't touch him," Kai spat dangerously, staring down hard at the fallen male. He spun on his heel and pulled his lover up, drawing him into his arms. He gently kissed the bruising cheek, soothing Tala as tears began to fall.

"Don't cry. Please don't cry. It wasn't your fault," Kai soothed, rubbing the redheads back.

Bryan stayed seated on the floor, staring distantly at the gavel, before brusquely snapping out of his thoughts. "I'm going to find Rei," he stated simply, and left.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Let go of me!"

"Kano, shut the boy up!" the fiery redhead hissed, aqua eyes darting to different directions in case anyone saw them. He watched skillfully, affirming everything was in the clear before nodding to the larger men behind him. The four scurried along the back wall of the underwater enclosures, well out of sight of other visitors' eyes.

Kano, a tall, broad man in his late twenties, with black hair, green tips and burgundy eyes, roughly covered the neko-jin's mouth with his oversized hand, rendering the hollering voice to a mere mumble.

"Done Keiji. He's quiet as a bird," Kano notified the redhead. Keiji nodded, pleased, before walking over to his detained prize and running a rough finger delicately over the flawless, tanned skin. His mind was wondering as he caressed the smooth cheek, visualizing exactly how he was going to break the raven-haired beauty, only to be forcibly brought back to reality by something wet coming in contact with his finger. Staring down with slight bewilderment, he wasn't at all shocked to find tears leaking from the sun-kissed orbs. Many times he had witnessed his prizes' break down at the thought of their impending doom. This boy was no different.

"Don't cry kid. Leave that till after I'm finished with you," Keiji purred into Rei's ear, drawing his body closer to his prisoner until their bodies touched. He could feel the body beneath him tense. This was going to be fun.

"Trust me. You'll need those tears when I'm done." But as he shoved the younger teen against the stonewall of the sea-creature pen and advanced on him, he could feel intense eyes on him. Staring down, he met with fierce golden orbs glaring dangerously up at him. It was then that a hard kick from Rei collided with his crotch, sending him tumbling to the ground, nursing his bruised limb.

Everything happened suddenly. Kano advanced first as an attempt to claim the lost dignity Keiji had lost, only to crash into the wall, a sharp kick to the back of his knees causing him to collapse in pain.

A third man, tall and lean with jet black eyes delivered a bruising blow to Rei's jaw, sending the poor boy flying in the air before colliding with the wall, his back yielding a harsh, crunching sound.

"You little bitch," the man Jiro hissed, gripping the raven hair in a large fist and hauling the young teen to shaky feet. Before he could relinquish another bruising punch, Rei supplied his own, propelling the man a few feet, his hair fortunately being released.

The fourth man didn't react; instead he made a run for it, disappearing behind one of the many underwater enclosure tanks.

"C'mon Tala. We can't just do nothing. We have to help Bryan, even if he is an asshole," Kai stated calmly, pulling his redhead along with him, their fingers intertwined. His cheek was beginning to bruise, but he thought little of it. Tala smiled at him, agreeing completely. Though Bryan may have been an asshole, Rei was still his little brother. It was his responsibility to find him.

"Tala, you go to the elephant pen. I'll go and look at the tiger enclosure. If he went wondering away, he'd probably go there first."

"Alright."

They nodded and separated, but not after a short and blissful farewell kiss, until next time.

Leaning fully against the wall, Rei placed a hand on his chest as a means to calm his racing heart, though it did him very little as the blood continued to thump in his head. He was developing a headache.

He brushed away the last few stray tears and ran in the opposite direction to the fourth gang member, pleased to know that his martial arts courses weren't going to waste, but not so please to find out what Bryan's reaction to this little episode would be.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Phone Call:

"Wow, you serious Garland?"

"Yeah Brookie. You should have been there! I kicked their asses!"

"Weren't you scared? You were assaulted by four grown men!"

"Brooklyn, of course I was, but thanks to my martial arts, I was able to kick butt!"

"Yeah, I guess. I can't believe a group of guys just came up to you and tried to rape you. I mean…this is a zoo for Christ-sake!"

"I know what you mean! Odd huh? But they've noted the authorities and let me go so that I could enjoy my visit here. But they said they'll call anyway if something similar happens again."

"Really? Wow. I better watch out, I mean, they're still around somewhere here in the zoo. The chances of me running into them are great."

"Yeah. But don't worry. Someone's bound to find them."

"Yeah. I got to go. Ian is trying to talk to me and I sure as hell can't multi-task. You know me."

"Heh. Yeah, I know your ways Brooklyn."

"Heh. See ya Garland."

"Bye."

TBC…

AN/ this chappy was too long, so I shortened it. The rest will be in the next chapter!

Please review. Not sure when the next one will be up.

Next Chappy Dedicated to my One Hundredth Reviewer

:P

100! Whoop! Let's see if we can make it, my lovelies!

Thank you all for your patience. I love each and every one of you and I appreciate and value each and every comment, criticism, plea and all-around review you send me! Thank you all so much for sticking with me for so long!

As a side note: Obviously most of my stories have been on hold for sometime now. The only reason this is being posted is because… actually, I have no idea. Oh well. I'm sure no one is complaining. XP Salacious Hostility will be put up as soon as I can. Thank you for being patient.

…BlooD MasCarA…