Gliitch: hey look! It's yet another fic by yours truly; my third in fact!

Ruthie: yeah and you haven't even come close to finishing your first one yet! Let alone your second…

Gliitch: ah well; Tala isn't in my other beyblade fic and since I just had him do the disclaimer…I miss him

Ruthie: aw, how sweet…so who do we have doing the disclaimer today?

Mariah: that would be me! Gliitch does not own beyblade or any of its characters! She does however own the plot of this fic and her OC's so if you wanna use 'em…ask!

Ruthie: I can suddenly see why you hate her so much…

Mariah: hey!

Gliitch: just for the record; in this fic Kai is not rich, it isn't an AU but we are going with the pre-tense that Voltaire whom is now permanently in jail has disowned Kai and Kai is now living under the roof of the dojo, ok? Ok…oh yeah and we are also gonna say that for the purposes of this fic, any form of friendship ever shown between Kai and Tala was simply for the benefit of crushing their opponents; they actually hate each other.

QED

Chapter 1: Distressed

"WHAT?!" Tyson yelled indignantly at his grandfather; Kai looked up from his (very small) breakfast and alternated his gaze between the two as Daichi looked up from his own (much larger) breakfast and did likewise. Normally when Tyson argued with his grandfather they would either carry on and ignore the two or pick on Tyson and gang up against him; the truth was that since they both now lived at the dojo the outcome of this particular argument affected them greatly.

"You heard," Grandpa said, "you can't stay here! In the preps for the last tournament you lot took out my wall and I was actually here that time! I'm going away this summer to teach at a high-class martial arts resort and you can't come with me but as long as you're training you can't stay here! Now excuse me little dude, I got a student arriving for a private lesson!" And with that he walked into the practice room; Tyson stared after him to see him great a young girl with short chocolate brown hair that curled inwards and stopped just under her chin. A large pair of circular glasses shielded a pair of big bright orange eyes; not amber eyes, orange…dark orange-red like a pumpkin but more…orange. Her hair was currently being held back by a stormy blue-grey cloth band and she wore a kendo uniform that consisted of a dark red top and dark grey trousers; she wore no shoes or socks. When she saw him looking she waved and Tyson smiled back before flopping down next to Daichi at the kitchen table.

"Now what are we gonna do?"

At this moment in time the practice room consisted of nine teenagers; Kai, Max, Rei, Tyson, Hillary, Daichi and Kenny were all there, but today there were two more. Tala was there too today (sitting as far away from Kai as the length of the room would allow) as he too was now housing with Tyson. It had been that or go back to Russia with the rest of the Demolition Boys and as great as they were…Tala hated Russia. Due to that Tala now lived with Tyson, Daichi, and Grandpa Granger and much to his dislike…Kai. It seemed that when the fate of the world or threats from Boris and Voltaire were not looming over them and forcing them to work together; the two really couldn't go five seconds without arguing. The other new addition was Mariah, whom had been complaining about living in the village and so had decided to stay with Rei in the city, she wouldn't be part of the upcoming tournament unless the White Tigers showed up because it was only a small Christmas tournament due to take place in about six months time and there weren't any titles to be won. It wasn't even going to be played in teams, it was all one on one which is why the Bladebreakers were so keen to compete; they may have been a good team and great friends but they had to admit that sometime competing amongst themselves was just too much fun. As everyone who came to town would normally stay with Tyson, the situation that Tyson was being kicked out will his Grandpa was away was quite problematic for everyone (except Max but his house isn't big enough for everyone.)

"All right you lot if ya ain't leavin' then get to the sides cos' it's my last lesson with this little dudette here before I have to go away tomorrow! Which reminds me I hope you lot have thought of somewhere to stay!"

"But Grandpa…!"

"No buts!" And with that, the teenagers all scooted to the side of the room as a young girl entered whom Tyson recognised as the student who had waved at him a few weeks ago. She waved to everyone shyly before drawing her own katana against Grandpa; out of the corner of his eye Tala saw something pique Kai's interest in the girl's direction and investigated for himself only to find that he could find nothing particularly interesting. That is…until she moved. Tala saw it as she moved into her starting stance, her legs weren't moving with the ease a young girl's should, especially if that girl was about to be part of a one on one kendo match. She was trying to disguise it but after so many years at the Abbey both Tala and Kai knew exactly what they were looking at; she was doing a good job otherwise, if it hadn't been for the Abbey Tala and Kai wouldn't have noticed either. Whatever pain she was suffering seemed to concentrate itself mostly into her right leg, the left was still a little stiff and reluctant but she seemed to ignore it in favour of preserving her right. So she was injured around her lower back…but she was supposed to be one of Grandpa's best students; that was why she took a private class because her level was so far above everyone else's. This would prove to be an interesting battle.

As the two started, they both gripped their kendo swords and began circling each other. After a short while Grandpa eventually decided to attack and he went at the girl with a vertical blow that she dodged left but instead of aiming at the old man she aimed her katana vertically down and held it by his hands. Tala felt a spark of admiration…very smart; after she dodged she could have easily held her own weapon to Grandpa's neck and the battle would have been over…for her; that seemingly obvious move would have left her wide open and in a real battle would have left her spleen hanging out. But the girl was quick and calculating, she had opted to block the old man's swing path. The two paused in the position plotting their next moves until the girl used her katana to push against Grandpa's hand as she jumped back in the opposite direction; quick to recover Grandpa made a slash at her retreating form but instead of defending against it head on the girl slashed down on it and pinned his katana down with her own before kicking him away. Grandpa landed a few feet away and the girl picked up his katana and cross both blades under his chin. The look on her face was completely blank and her eyes were seemingly empty. After a few seconds the girl stepped away and sheathed her sword before placing Grandpa Granger's on the floor in front of him; her face flooding with glee as she did so.

"Got ya!" She laughed as Grandpa got up with his katana and sheathed it.

"Ya sure did little dudette; those were some nice moves!" Grandpa laughed along with her, "say, care to stay for a cup of tea? I got somethin' to talk to you about." The girl looked uncertain but nodded nevertheless and followed the hyperactive old man to the kitchen.

Ten minutes later saw everyone sat down in the living room with a cup of tea, though enjoyable as it was the girl seemed somewhat nervous. After a brief silence Grandpa introduced the girl before finally explaining to her what it was he wanted to talk about.

"Alright you lot this is Anna; my very best kendo student so I want you all to be nice to her because hopefully come September when I get back from the kendo resort she's gonna become my assistant teacher in my beginner's class." Grandpa smiled and winked at Anna whose eyes were wide; had she been holding her tea she would have dropped it.

"Me?" She asked pointing to herself.

"That's right, I've got quite a big list but I can only take on so many students; with a great assistant like you it would be possible to teach everyone on the waiting list. Of course that's only if you want to…"

"I'll have to think on it; I know I can fight and that I'm good at kendo but…to be honest…my people skills aren't the best…I would be a horrid sort of teacher."

"If that turns out to be so I know this much; you are determined and you are smart. If you really want to help teach this class then you will try to be a better teacher and you are smart enough to learn from your mistakes the mistakes of others around you…and that in itself is the mark of someone who will be the best of teachers and is one of the many things we try to teach kids. So little dudette…promise me you'll think on it over the summer eh?" Anna nodded and looked down into her tea cup before raising it to her lips and taking a small sip. Something seemed to cross her mind and whatever it was, was voiced a second later.

"Sensei…" Anna began quietly.

"What's up little dudette?"

"I was curious about what you had said earlier…not to me but to your grandson…I don't like to pry into matters that aren't my business and usually I would have no interest but as it's sensei…"

"Oh! Well I'm sure even you know just how famous Tyson and his friends are and what they're famous for right?" Anna nodded, "well during the training for that big match that you may or may not have heard of, this lot managed to take out one of the walls in my precious dojo!" Anna's eyes widened, "as they're all training for the mini-tournament coming up this Christmas and I'm going away this summer; that means they'd be here alone; only God knows what would happen. So for the duration of the summer this lot are gonna need somewhere else to live and train by tomorrow and judgin' by their protests; they're gonna be on the streets for the next two months!" Tyson growled with protest and so began yet another argument whilst Anna hung her head even further down, down, down until…

"Are you trying to drown yourself in that?" Anna snapped her head up only to have her fiery eyes meet with the icy blue of Tala's who was currently wearing a rather annoying smirk. Kai looked away from the argument having already seen it three or four times a day for the past few weeks to instead view the conversation between Anna and Tala.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem so anti-social; I was just debating with myself." Anna smiled slightly and something appeared in her eyes; they seemed to be sparkling with…determination?

"Debating about what?" Kai asked, by this time everyone had their heads turned.

"Well, I was just weighing up the pros and cons and well…perhaps you might consider housing with…me?" The group exchanged looks.

"You?" Tyson confirmed, "what about your parents?"

"I don't live with my parents; I live alone and my parents live in America."

"Wow, you're a legal adult? I wouldn't have pegged you as more than thirteen!" Hillary laughed.

"No I'm a minor; I just turned fifteen a few months ago…but I'm a little odd and living with other people proved to be a little bit problematic so as long as I was only a year away I was allowed to move back to Japan; although I do get visited by a social worker every week to make sure everything's fine."

"If it's that problematic for you to live with other people then maybe…" Rei began but Anna cut him off.
"I have no qualms with sharing a household with nine strangers whose only focus will be on beyblading and the basics of survival," when nothing was said Anna took out a piece of paper, wrote on it, handed it to Kai and left; but not before saying, "well I'll see you all tomorrow; come anytime you like and give a call on that number about half and hour before you arrive and I'll meet you at the station."

Well, she was odd to say the least.

Gliitch: ah, yes Anna is a little odd isn't she? Just wait until you really get to know her

Mariah: I fear for my life…

Ruthie: me too…

Gliitch: you don't need to be afraid!

Mariah: really!?

Gliitch: no you do, Ruthie doesn't