A/N I do not own Beyblade. This story was written for the KaRe contest. If you would like to enter it, go to Rebecca85's profile and check her forums. It is called KaRe Wave. Yes, you would like to stop me from telling people about our fun contest, wouldn't you? Mwahaha.

The Basement

By Kaistoaster

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I tightened my grip on his waist and bit down on the side of his neck. He shivered and cried out. I drew back, inspecting it. Teeth marks with blood in them marked his lovely slim throat. He looked none too happy about it either. I wouldn't be too happy if a madman had me locked in his basement.

I let go of him gently and he settled down onto the couch, flinching away from me. I hated keeping him down here. His gorgeous inky black hair had gone stringy and tangled. His shining golden eyes had lost their luster and gone dull. He was meant to run free through forests under blue, gray, or pink skies.

But that world was over now. The forests had shrunk to almost nothing. They sky was the same smoky yellow color every day. No one walked around freely without a face mask. Also, Rei and I had been destined to be together. We were soulmates. Unfortunately, I was born 40+ years before Rei. I've lost most of my hair, I'm overweight, and I'm afraid I'm not as handsome as I was in my youth. That's why it almost killed me when Rei rejected me.

After all, Rei is only serf-level. I actually own land. I have a 4 share of an orange grove. Yeah. And I'm the head of my own department in Flyinglilypad Co. My department deals with the ancient and powerful phenomenon of beyblades and bitbeasts. Rei is an errand boy and a beyblade tester. Ooo, it makes me so mad! How dare he!

Thud! I balled my meaty hand into a fist and slammed it into Rei's cheek. He fell off the couch and sprawled on the floor. As he crawled away, whimpering, I sighed. Now I felt bad. It wasn't Rei's fault he was a stupid peasant who could never appreciate rank. He'd probably never dreamed someone as highly positioned as I would deign to even speak to him! Except for that Hiwitari brat...but those were just rumors.

"There there, Rei. Now if you'd just be good I wouldn't have to hurt you. Drink your tea and you'll feel all better." I said, gesturing to the tray I'd brought down.

It had a pitcher of mint tea as well as grilled cheese sandwiches and salad, with a slice of pineapple cake. Did he appreciate that he was one of the lucky few to eat fresh vegetables and fruit? No. But I mustn't judge him. He was my soulmate, after all. He stared at me, sniffling, and finally hobbled over to the tray. As I waddled out the door he began eating one of the sandwiches. Poor boy, it really wasn't his fault. A shame I'd had to cut part of his leg off. But he kept trying to run away. I got the idea to amputate it from the knee down in an old classic called Misery. He really had been quite graceful.

But I couldn't take the risk of being caught out after suspicious death of-well, I mustn't think about it.

KaiReiKaiReiKaiReiKaiRai

---

Kai paced the luxurious spacious confines of his apartment. He was thinking about Rei. He was slightly anxious and pleased to have discovered that he loved Rei. Although he had been dating Rei covertly for almost a year now, it had never even occurred to him that he might actually fall in love. Unfortunately, absence does make the heart grow fonder. He had realized this while searching for Rei. His beloved neko-jin, his Rei Kon, had up and disappeared last month. It seemed to Kai that he had been searching forever. The days all blurred into one seamless, never-ending nightmare that he feared would drive him insane.

He had contacts. In the BBA, in almost every department of Flyinglilypad Corp., and even in the radical organization of Sweet Lemon. He had yet to turn up Rei. Kai's stomach flipped as his mind turned to only possible explanation: his grandfather was behind this. That sick, diabolical fiend must have discovered their relationship and quickly eliminated the threat to their status and wealth.

Kai walked over to the sliding glass doors and stared out. He didn't go out onto the balcony though. There were air alerts out. A crack in the dome had let filthy tainted air in. The masks would save your lungs, of course. But the rash would still erupt on your face. Radiation. Pollution. Disease. Outside, Kai could see a beautiful apple orchard, and a sweet little pond. Kai snorted. What a joke. A pretty little artificial scene for the rich to hide their eyes from the truth. The dome would be repaired by noon, and then Kai could go hunting for Rei.

A shrill ringing interrupted Kai's thoughts. He hurried over to the exquisite antique phone and picked it up.

"What is it?" he snapped. He felt sorry for whoever it was; he hadn't meant to be so edgy. But he had to take his anger out on someone.

"It's Max. It's about the kitty." the person on the other end chirped in a whisper, if that was possible.

"Go ahead, this line is secure." at least he thought so. If it wasn't, he wouldn't know.

"Kai, Kenny got up to Lv.4 in the Network."

"And what'd he find out?"

"Someone from the BBA has him. There's no other explanation. He was last logged out at 2:00 A.M, in the middle of a nightshift. Only the BBA employees were present at Headquarters that night."

"So who has him?!" I yelled.

"I don't know." I could picture Max shrinking away from the phone.

"Stop the bullshit, there's a scrambler on this line."

"It's...the head of the BBA. Mr. Dickinson." Max whispered.

Kai nearly dropped the phone. He could hardly believe it. Jolly old Mr.D? Why would he kidnap Rei?

"Is Kenny sure?" Kai demanded.

"You can talk to him yourself, if you don't believe me. But apparently, they logged out at the same time, and Kenny has security footage of Mr.D carrying an unconscious Rei from the building."

Kai thought frantically. God knew what was happening to Rei. Was it because of him?

"I want everyone at headquarters. At noon, as soon as it's safe to go outside."

Kai slammed the phone down and began pacing angrily again. He was pissed he had to wait because of the dome leak, but in the back of his mind he knew it was good to have time to plan. Rushing off half-cocked would just get them killed. He still couldn't fathom why Mr. Dickinson wanted Rei. He was a neko-jin, but while they were rare, they were certainly not unknown, and that ethnic group had already been submitted to Flyinglilypad's tests over a century ago.

Kai's mind spun with plans for breaking Rei out. He prayed to the god's that no one worshipped that Mr.D had stored Rei in his own home. There was no safer place, in Kai's mind. However, Kai had been there, and was familiar with the layout. Mr. Dickinson had been assigned a lovely two-story home 5 years ago, and Kai had been at the housewarming. Not to mention the other large socials he had attended there. He had only been on the second story once, though, and he had never been in the basement.

Kai walked back over to phone, and rang up the number. It was a risk even dialing this number here, but Kai found it necessary to throw caution to the wind. Was he being objective? Or were his own feelings tempting him into risking the organization? Kenny answered before Kai could ruminate further.

Kai ignored Kenny's scoldings and spluttering and gave him orders. Get the blueprints of Mr.D's house. Then Kai hung up, ignoring Kenny's protests that the blueprints were actual blueprints, and not in the computer files. Kai, tired of pacing aimlessly, busted out a bottle of champagne and poured himself a drink. Hopefully he would have something to celebrate-Rei's return. He sipped his drink, heading off to his bedroom to dress.