"Feelings inherently defy logic,"

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Kai

It was windy today.

The sun was hidden in clouds, and the wind rustled the grass as he made his way to the stadium. The crowd uproar from behind, the shouts of his name, shrieks, clapping and cheering filled the open ground. A few feets away somewhere in right, Ray battled with a Hungarian player, their beyblades clashing in a symphony of sounds.

He could see Ahana when he glanced back briefly near the team's bench, sitting with her crutch folded beside her. Her hands moved expertly on her tablet, recording brief videos of special moves of players, noting down observations and occasionally analysing information on the hologram beside her.

Despite everything, she was very good at her role as their manager.

Very good.

He heard Blader DJ calling the countdown to the match, his grip on his launcher tightened, drawing his hands back before launching at the shout of zero. Dranzer clashed with the other beyblade he hadn't bothered to learn the name of in a clean strike; he glanced up just in time to catch her throwing a thumbs up and small smile his way as she mouthed him luck.

Huh, he didn't need luck.

"Dranzer," he called out, his hand covering a semi arc in the air as Dranzer launched forward spinning at the edge of the stadium before going down with full force; the majestic bit beast of phoenix came out with a shriek before diving in with a gust of fire and swiping away the other beyblade in a few seconds. He held his hand out and Dranzer came flying back, skidding to a stop in his palm. It burned a little, it always did, the heat of Dranzer was the reason for the countless scars on his palms after all.

It always hurts a little but at the same time nothing makes him feel at home more than having Dranzer in his palm after a battle.

After all, this little phoenix was with him when he was a young boy trapped in the clutches of hell, walking on barbed wire to a destination that might have destroyed him. He didn't leave him even when he chose his darker version for some time, and he was here now, when Kai had chosen to walk a new path despite the bleeding wounds on his feet.

The cheerings of the audience and the chant of his name carried in the air as he walked back to Bladebreakers bench.

Kai had always admired Dranzer, had always admired the capability of a phoenix to fly with their wings on fire. To make that fire an integral part of their life and themselves.

And maybe that was why he admired her too.

"Good job, captain," she said as she clicked one tab shut in the hologram and shot him a smile; a smile that he had learnt recently would steal his breath every time. He doesn't know the extent of the fire she had walked through, or the number of cracks on her wings.

But he always saw it in her eyes.

Resilience.

He saw it in the way she talks.

Polite facade.
Never acting cold outwards like him, but still showing enough for everyone to maintain a distance. And yet, below that facade she did care.

He saw it in the ways she will go quite sometimes during the meetings.

The baggage.
The haunting sense in her eyes, the faraway look when she would pull away like her mind was still trapped in a world long foregone.

He saw it in the ways she never took anyone bullshits or how she tense at touches.

She was a contradiction in herself.

And yet, maybe this resilience, this politeness, this all, her behaviour was the reason; she carried herself like someone who has walked through hell and still finds it in herself to walk anyway.

He admired her.

There was no denying it.

He had tried to deny it for longer than he would like to admit, maybe ever since he first found her in that park playing with kittens.

And if a girl was able to make even Kai Hiwatari admit he liked her.

Then she must be someone special, someone worthy, someone beautiful, someone... like her.

God damn it.

He was going down a road he didn't think he would be able to return from.

And he detested her for this.

Or maybe it was not her he detested but the people who have made him scared of any human emotion he feels toward someone due to the potential consequences it might bring.

Because detesting her was the first task he had failed.

Ahana

Tomorrow we leave for America.

It had been four weeks since we got back from the festival and the unofficial matches had gone splendid considering most of them won their matches except a tie between Max and a french blader.

She clicked her suitcase shut before zipping up the case of her guitar and putting it beside the navy blue suitcase which held most of her clothes.

She walked back to her bed, occasionally limping due to the healing injury which should be fine by the next week according to the doctor; she collapsed on the bed, stretching her hands above like a cat before curling in the blankets.

After twisting and turning for a few minutes and still not able to sleep, she sighed, turning to look at the ceiling, her hand outstretched as she flexed her fingers.

It was a weird feeling she was having, it was anticipation mixed with adrenalin and nervousness.

Whatever had happened, till now. Till today.

From the day she had bled on that road to the moment today, where she lie on a luxurious mattress as the manager of a world champion team, she have to make all of them count.

Whatever happened till today was the prologue to the story she was gonna write in blood and vows.

The real battle would begin tomorrow from the moment they– she– will step on the lands of America.

Her real duty to protect this team, to protect him and at the same time achieve her own goal of total annihilation of some people, would start truly from tomorrow.

Well, at least one of her original worries when she joined the team, of Kai still having connections with his grandfather, was erased now. It meant she could function properly in the team.

Seems like bloodlines didn't define everything, after all.

Because he was nothing like his grandfather.

Nothing.

And she only wished he also despised his bloodline as much as she did, because otherwise by the end of this championship and her plan, she might lose him.

Because despite the blood running in their veins, she was starting to feel things she might not walk back from once they reached their potential.

Tomorrow would bring many challenges and possible death traps, she just wished she could seek his presence through it all. 

☆ ACT I  ENDS ☆

a/n; act I ends here, act II shall start from next chapters! :)) 
welp, i would be uploading it but please, i beg of you, do drop your thoughts on act I, your feelings, your thoughts they will help me write their story and continue to 
share it with you. so pleaseee share your thoughts about the whole act I. 

and haha, worry not, as ahana mentioned this was just the start, the true romance, angst, sports, revenge everything is gonna come from this moment on.
see you later ❤️