*throws update at you*

Requested by: kim_mateajennie

Sorry if Lui's a little OOC.

--xx Avanni Cinders

"You seriously think you have what it takes?"

Lui Shirosagi glared up at you from his place on the floor, sweat dripping from his brow to collect in a small puddle in front of him. His violet eyes blazed with fury, his face flushed from embarrassment or anger, or maybe even a combination of the two. His Bey Luinor lay before him, separated into its three separate pieces.

"What kind of question is that?" He managed to sneer, refusing to buckle under your hard gaze.

"A valid one," came your short response, and you held out your hand for your own Bey, which jumped from the stadium and into your palm, where it continued to spin almost lazily. "You actually called yourself the best?"

This only seemed to infuriate him further. Lui growled audibly and snatched up the pieces of Luinor. He pushed himself to his feet and thrust his reassembled Bey toward you.

"Again." He demanded, and you would freely admit, although not to his face, that you were impressed by Lui's unwavering determination. Still, you shrugged.

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no?'"

"I mean no." You repeated, deliberately pocketing your Bey and clipping your launcher back onto your belt. "That was two hundred battles, I'm done for the day."

"Not yet you're not," he insisted stubbornly, clicking Luinor into place. "Not until I've won."

You sighed audibly, not giving a damn if you offended him or not. It was at times like this that you regretted your decision to mentor the other Blader.

After his loss against his rival Shu Kurenai, or Red Eye as he had been known at the time, Lui Shirosagi had sought you out in order to have you train him.

At first, you were reluctant. At the age of thirteen, you had gained yourself the title as the world's greatest Blader, a title you had held for three years. Maintaining the position itself had been the easy part. You had been training since you had been able to, with your partner Toxic Hydra, and as a result, the two of you were untouchable. That was where the tricky part had come in. Finding a challenge. Victory after victory, working your way up until you reached a plateau untouchable by anyone else, it didn't take long for you to slowly grow sick of Beyblade.

You loved the sport, there was no doubt about it, but with no one to challenge your power, to get your blood pumping, it just wasn't fun anymore. In the end, you had passed down your title to a Blader by the name of Kurt Baratier, who eventually had come across the same stumbling block as you had, but that was no longer your problem. Packing your things, you had gone on a number of training journies, traveling around the globe and battling all sorts of people before settling down.

That had been two years ago, and at nineteen years of age, you had been more than a little taken aback to come back home one afternoon from grocery shopping, to find a flaming headed male sitting on the steps of your deck, waiting for you to return.

It hadn't been an instant thing, and after hearing his request, you had flat out turned him down and ordered Lui Shirosagi quite firmly to leave you the hell alone.

He didn't give up.

Every single day he would come by like clockwork, knocking on your door at asking you to train him. At first you tried ignoring him, or pretending like you weren't home, but he'd sit patiently on the small stairs and wait for you to open up your front door and hear his request. Then, after having learnt his pattern, you made sure to be out of the house when he'd visit. That too was no use. You would come back home, and he'd be sitting there, waiting. No matter the hour or the weather, he'd wait out there until you heard him out, and after your prompt refusal, he would nod simply and take his leave.

An exasperated sigh worked its way through you, something that had quickly become a second nature to you in the past month. Fully aware of the predicted rain and hoping that it would be enough to deter him, you had gone into town and spent the day curled up in your favourite corner of the local library. Hours had flown past you, and by the time the librarian had approached you for the closing hour, you were surprised to realise it was 5:00PM.

Stepping outside, you immediately put up your umbrella, thankful for your choice to bring it with you just in case. The sky was turning dark much quicker than usual with the addition of the angry looking storm clouds that loomed menacingly over head, crackling and rumbling as it threatened to break. With the promise of a storm on the horizon, you hurried home on foot, living only fifteen minutes away from the library despite your home being tucked away amongst the forest that bordered the quaint little town.

The journey was a quick one, but the rain already begun to pour by the time your house was in sight, your boots soaked and ruined from the great puddles you had been forced to step in. Your sense of urgency was replaced by one of exasperation and disbelief, as you caught sight of Lui Shirosagi sitting in the rain.

His head was bowed, so he didn't see you hesitate before approaching him, nor did he hear your footsteps. He did however, look up, when he realised the heavy droplets had suddenly stopped abusing his skin, and he stood hurriedly as he caught sight of you standing over him, sharing your umbrella.

'You can stay here the night,' he informed him shortly, keeping an unreadable expression masking your features. 'I expect you to be awake and ready by 9:00AM at the absolute latest.'

'Does this mean–'

'Yes Shirosagi, I'll train you.'

You still weren't entirely sure what made you change your mind that day. Maybe it was his calm acceptance of your rejection, or his unwavering persistence despite it, but whatever it was, it had made you sway from the decision you had initially taken. For the most part, you didn't regret it. He was a good student, hellbent on improving himself and resilient despite his failure. For someone that had been so used to his place at the top for so long, you reasoned that it mustn't have been an easy feat for him, which only caused your respect to grow all the more. Still, it was at times like these where he put aside his regard for his health and interrupted your sleep, that you came to wish that you could step back through time and say no to him once more.

"Look, you're done." You told him bluntly, having learnt early on that tiptoeing around an issue wouldn't get you anywhere with your unorthodox student.

"I said, you're done." You repeated firmly when he opened his mouth to argue. "You still can't beat me, and you sure as hell aren't going to when you're exhausted like this. It's midnight. I'm tired. I am going to sleep. So unless you plan on chaining me to that stadium, get the damn hell out of my way Frodo because my bed is calling me."

"One last battle." Lui insisted.

You gave him a scathing glare, one that he refused to flinch away from. Saying nothing and knowing that this was the only way you'd be seeing your pillow anytime soon, you took your Bey back out and held it out over the stadium.

"You're not going to use your launcher?" He frowned.

"What does it look like?" You sneered meanly. "If me absolutely kicking your ass is the only way to knock some sense into you, then make sure you're fucking ready."

Normally, you could be patient. Usually, you would play nice. But Lui seemed to be having one of those moments where he became so fixated on his task at hand, that he lost all consideration for everything else around him. Sometimes, this was good, sometimes, it was bad. Right now? It was plain annoying.

Lui didn't bother with coming up with a witty reply, and held his launcher out over the stadium. Countdowns were foregone, and the two of you launched your Beys into the stadium, for what was now the two hundredth and first time that evening, Lui with a sharp tug of his ripcord, you with a lazy flick of your wrist.

The handicap meant nothing, as Toxic Hydra spun around the stadium with all the force of a small hurricane.

"Dragon Scream," Lui ordered his Bey, but it did next to nothing as you commanded your own attack.

"Atomic Blade," you urged, using a move that Lui was yet to see you use, although it still wasn't one of the stronger weapons available to you in your arsenal.

Hydra cut through Luinor's attack like it was nothing, shrugging off the move and advancing with its own. There was a short flash of white light, and the screech of metals grinding, before Luinor flew out of the stadium in pieces. Hydra returned to you, and you rolled your eyes at Lui's look of annoyance.

"That was mediocre at best." You huffed, folding your arms across your chest. "You think you're ready to face me and Hydra at full power? Reality check Shirosagi, we'd destroy you and leave nothing behind."

"I'm just tired," he protested, picking up Luinor.

"Yet you ignored me when I said you'd had enough." You reminded him, not about to let him slip by you with an excuse.

"When will we be ready?" He asked, changing the subject, and you groaned internally.

"At this rate? Give it a year, maybe more."

"A year?" Lui echoed, sounding incredulous. "That's too long."

"Maybe if you'd actually listen to me more than you'd get there faster," you  fired back, nerves shot, unable to help the snarkiness seeping into your tone.

"We do listen to you," he bit out, glaring.

"Oh really? Well you sure had me fooled. How stupid I must be, to think that the person who actually came to me for help was doing as I told him, instead of pretending like he knows everything under the damn sun."

"You don't respect me as a Blader."

Your eyes narrowed at the accusation. It didn't matter that you were the same age, or that you no longer battled professionally. When it came down to it, you were the one with more experience, years worth of knowledge tucked firmly under your belt. To outright insinuate something as rude as he had, was seriously disrespectful in itself, not to mention immature, and an insult to your integrity as a Blader. You didn't say anything to him. You returned your Bey to your pocket and exited the small building that was detached from your house and used for training. You didn't look back as you made your way back inside, and climbed the stairs to your bedroom. It was only when you were safely inside the confines of your most private space, that you let out a roar of utter frustration, and sent your fist flying through your ensuite door.

The next morning, it was 10:00AM before Lui finally sought you out. He found you in the garden, laying stretched out on a blanket in the sunlight, deeply engrossed in a paperback novel.

"Aren't we training today?" Were the first words out of his mouth, and you gritted your teeth. You waited a long moment, breathing out a quiet sigh from between your lips, and when you were sure you were calm, did you tear your eyes away from the pages and deign to answer him.

"No, we're not." You replied, not reacting to the way his own jaw twitched in response.

"Look, if this is about last night then–"

"Actually Lui, it is." You informed him, sliding a book mark between the pages to keep your place, and shutting the book closed with an audible snap. "I took the liberty of packing your things while you took your shower this morning."

"Y/n?"

"You were right," you continued brightly, getting to your feet and fixing him with an overly sweet smile that was so obviously false. "You're ready Lui, and I was an idiot for not seeing what before. You're training's over. I want you out of my house in the next hour."

For the first time in the months that you had known him, Lui Shirosagi was speechless. He stood there going at you, blinking, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly.

"Congratulations. You've done well." You praised him, gathering up your blanket and book. "You don't need to stick around here anymore."

You marched swiftly back inside, closing the door behind you and discarding your things on the lounge. You wasted no time, taking long strides down the hall to the guest bedroom where you had let Lui stay. The door was thrown open as you burst inside the small, yet comfortable room, and snatched the duffel bag of Lui's things you had packed for him earlier without his knowledge from out under the bed. Your return to the lounge room was timed perfectly with the back door opening and closing, right before you heard a hurried set of footsteps begin to head in your direction.

Without pause, you flung open the front door, and threw the duffel bag out onto your deck, and stood back, leaning against the door and holding it open, gesturing for Lui to walk past as he caught up to you.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" He snapped, standing near you, his face etched with confusion and his fists clenched at his sides.

"Nothing at all," you replied cheerfully, giving him a closed eye smile. "I'm just showing my respect for you as a Blader, which means moving you along on your journey."

"Y/n–"

"Come on Lui, you clearly know everything there is about being a Blader. What else is there for me to teach you? I'm clearly nowhere near  as good a Blader as you, so it's about time I stopped holding you back."

"Look I–"

"Good bye Lui," you deadpanned, suddenly dropping your friendly pretences. You grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved him out through the door.

"Y/n–"

This time, he was cut off by the wooden door slamming in his face.

You had never known the levels of sheer dedication possible to human kind before Lui Shirosagi landed in your life. You had thought his determination to have you train him was impressive, but this was something else entirely, and it was beginning to border on sheer idiocy.

He kept sitting there, in that very same spot on your deck, day after day. It had only been three days, and he would leave through the night, but even as the sky split apart and buckets of rain poured down, he still sat there.

A vague feeling of déjà vu sweeping through your senses, you stepped out onto the wooden floorboards. He didn't hear the door open, nor did he hear as your bare feet padded over to him, unminding of the wet surface.

"What are you doing Lui?" You asked him loudly, in an effort to be here over the raging sounds of the Summer storm.

His head immediately snapped up upon hearing your voice.

"Why don't you have a raincoat on?" He demanded, ignoring your question. "You'll make yourself sick."

"I could ask you the same thing." You countered, choosing to sit down beside him, much to his apparent surprise. There was silence between the two of you, until you broke it with a soft sigh, something you were beginning to notice that you did a lot around the teal haired man. "What are you doing Lui?"

For a moment, you thought he wasn't going to answer you, but then he spoke, and his voice was so quiet that you had to lean in closer, straining to hear him lest his words get lost in the rain.

"You didn't let me apologize," he explained, as though it were an adequate enough reason to have been lingering so intently.

"This is crazy." You denied, and he shook his head.

"You deserve an apology."

"Is that seriously the reason why you keep nagging at me like this?" You wondered aloud, disbelieving of the notion.

"I was out of line."

"You were a right little shit." You agreed.

"I was," he admitted, and you were slightly startled by how easily he did so. "And I'm sorry."

"Why though?"

He tilted his head and looked at you with those dark purple eyes of his.

"It's frustrating," he said finally. "I came all this way to train, but it doesn't feel like I've gotten anywhere."

You made to speak, but Lui shook his head lightly, and cut you off.

"I know I have, but you're leagues better than I am Y/n." He continued to speak, and you opted to remain silent until he had finished speaking, feeling as though this was something he had thought long over. "The way you beat me the other night, and you weren't even trying. I used to think that I was the best, or that I was close to it, and that Luinor and I were perfectly in sync with each other. But watching you battle, seeing you with your Hydra, it made me realise that we're no where near the top, not yet anyway, and that drives me crazy.

You've taught me a lot of things Y/n, and not just in a battle. You taught me to respect my opponents better than I did, and helped me reign in my arrogance. You haven't just made me a better Blader, you've made me a better person."

Only when it became apparent that he had finished speaking, did you finally talk.

"You're always going to be an arrogant little bastard Shirosagi, not even I can fix all of that. And I don't think I heard a single 'I'm sorry,' in that entire monologue."

"I'm –"

"Ah," you held up a hand. "It's my turn now."

"You've gotten better, but you came to me for help, and despite everything, I chose to, and I think I finally know why. You're an interesting person Lui, and you're probably the only person aside from myself that I've seen so damn set on improving himself as a Blader.

You were a right cocky prick at times, but I still ended up liking you anyway, and I'll admit that I'm sorry for throwing you out like that. Literally."

"I deserved it."

"Oh hell yeah you did," you snorted in agreement, no way there to deny it.

The silence grew between you once more, but it had changed into the comfortable one you had grown used to after having spent so long in his presence, rather than the stilted and awkward one that had crept in when you had first sat down with him.

"We're both going to end up getting sick tomorrow," Lui pointed out conversationally. Your only response was to mutter an unintelligible response, and shuffle over closer to him, leaning your head down and pillowing it on his shoulder. Sickness or not, you found yourself ignoring whatever tomorrow might bring, perfectly content to sit there in the rain as it poured down around you, comforted by a shoulder, and the person you knew that without a doubt, would always be there in your life.