A Phoenixes’ Love
Chapter 1 - A Shattered Friendship

Snow fell softly through the air, swirling and spiralling as the chilling gust of wind whipped it around. In the snow-blanketed city square of Moscow, children ran and played, building snowmen and pelting each other with snowballs. The usually quiet air was filled with the joyous laughter of the children, mingling with the cheerful talking of bustling adults. A little girl, no more than five years of age, stood alone in the midst of the games and activity. Her raven hair gleamed at her shoulders, dusted with snow. She rubbed her mittened hands together, shivering a little beneath her sheepskin, fur-lined coat. Her vivid violet eyes were bright as they darted around.
A snowball came flying out of nowhere to hit her with full force on the back of her head. Vai pitched forward headfirst into a snowman someone had begun to make. As she stood up, brushing the snow from her face and hair, another snowball pelted her - full in the face. She wiped the cold snow from her face and looked up to see a boy a year older than her watching her intently, violet eyes smiling at her. His face had a small, amused smile. His silver hair glistened with snow.
“There you are, Kai,” Vai told him. “I’ve been looking for you…” Then her eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips.
“Did you throw that?” she asked him in mock suspicion.
The boy faked astonishment. “Me?” he replied with feigned innocence. “Would I do such a thing?”  
They stared with mocked hardness at each other before bursting into laughter.
Vai and Kai played together for a while, bombarding each other with snowballs and building a snowman between them. As they sat down on the metal railings outside her house to catch their breath, Vai noticed that Kai was wearing his favourite long white scarf. He saw her looking at it and smiled slightly. “You know how special it is to me,” he said to her. “It reminds me of you, because you’re my best friend - and you did give it to me as a present at Christmas.” She nodded. He glanced at the silver locket about her neck.
“That was a gift from you to me at Christmas,” she smiled. “And it’s really special to me. I’ll treasure it forever - because it reminds me of you.” Vai fingered her locket, glancing down at it. The locket was oval-shaped, with the words Best friends on the front of it. Inside, the two halves of it held two photos; one of herself and Kai. And under each photo, their names had been engraved: Vai - what she preferred to be known as, rather than her full name, which was Violet; and Kai, the name of her best friend. She fumbled with her necklace absently as she tried to pluck up the courage and say something she had wanted to tell him for a long time.
During the three years they had been together, a strong friendship had formed between them. As the years had gone by, Vai had started to have feelings for him. She cared for Kai - and wanted him to know how she felt. But even now, she was unsure whether this was the right time to tell him. Vai took a deep breath. “Kai?” she asked.
“Yes, Vai?” Kai responded kindly, his violet eyes calm as he gazed at her.
“Um…Uh…I just want to say that I…I…I love-” her words were drowned out by the revving of an engine as a black car sped into the square, scattering the people and children. The vehicle pulled up beside Vai’s house. Vai’s surprised mother opened the door to greet her visitor. A tall old man with grey hair, dressed entirely in black clothes, alighted from the car. “I am Voltaire Hiwatari, Kai’s grandfather,” he informed the young woman in his very dry voice. “I have come to collect him - and take him home.” Vai looked at her confused friend as he looked up at the menacingly tall old man before him. Voltaire wrapped a claw firmly around his grandson’s wrist. A man opened the passenger door of the car. “Get in, Grandson,” Voltaire told Kai calmly. The boy refused.
“I don’t have a grandfather!” he objected loudly. “Let me go! My parents never -” His grandfather swiftly cut through his words, pulling Kai towards the car, his claw-like nails cutting in to the child’s wrist.
“Pay him no heed,” he told Vai’s mum. “My grandson likes to make up tales, and his truancy knows no -”
“No!” Kai screamed. “Let me go!” He tried to pull away from Voltaire, reaching out to Vai as she held her hand outstretched. But the old man seized him back towards the car. He took off a black leather glove and smote Kai soundly across the face. Tears in his eyes, the boy placed a trembling hand to his smarting red cheek. “Get inside, now!” Voltaire ordered. Silently, Kai obeyed.
Vai made a dash towards Kai. “No - wait!” she cried. “I love you!” She was held back by her mother. The girl struggled and tried to escape, but to no avail. All she could see as the car drove out of the square, was her friend’s face, streaked with tears, looking out of the tinted passenger window, small hands pressed against the dark, cold glass. “Kai!” she screamed in anguish. “Kai!”
When the vehicle had disappeared, she sank to her knees in the deep snow and burst into floods of tears, crying her heart out.
“Kai!” Vai shouted as she awoke, jerking bolt upright in bed. Tears welled in her violet eyes. Her heart pounded with fear. She put her head in her hands, sighing deeply. Her body trembled as she sat there, tears soaking and staining the bed sheets. It had happened so long ago; yet the memories were still fresh in her mind. She touched her precious locket briefly. It’s been almost ten years since that day, the girl reflected. I haven’t seen Kai for such a long time…I’ve even almost forgotten his face… She sighed again. Her heart ached for him. How she wished that she could see him again; hear his voice, feel his presence once more. How could his grandfather have done that to him; suddenly appearing and taking him away without letting him say goodbye to me? Vai thought. He’s so cruel! She slumped back into the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. Oh, where are you, my Kai? she asked silently. Where are you?
Confusing, frightening images flashed through Kai’s mind. Although most of them were flashbacks of the pain and suffering he had gone through as a child with his grandfather, there were other vague, more puzzling images, too; a small girl with shoulder-length raven hair and violet eyes like his own; blurred images of two faces looking down at him; a claw-like hand cutting into his wrist; and an anguished scream. These, along with other perplexing images, haunted his dreams night after night.
Kai snapped awake, jolting upright. He almost ripped the bed sheets in the process. He panted, heart pounding. Ever since he and his team had won the Justice Five Tournament, the dreams had troubled him night after night. The boy knew why he was having these dreams; it was because his heart yearned for answers - more answers to his past, which was shrouded in mystery to him. Every time he saw the raven-haired girl something told him that he should know her, yet he could not find any memory of her whatsoever. And that was what troubled him the most about his dreams. The girl. Who was she? And what significance did she have?
Kai sighed, looking at his white scarf, which lay folded beside his makeshift bed. The scarf was special to him, for he wore it almost all the time. It had been with him since he had been a child. He wondered occasionally where it had come from in the first place. Had it been a present? Had some dead relative given it to him a long time ago? More unanswered questions. He put his head in his hands. Somehow, he would find the memories he had lost and complete his past.
That morning, Vai woke early, just as dawn was breaking. She was deep in thought while she watched the first light rays of the sun pierce the darkness of the night. No matter what, she was going to find Kai. She needed to see what he looked like, now that almost a decade had passed since they had last seen each other. The little she had heard about him gave her a starting point in her search. Japan. Kai had returned to Japan after battling the Beyblade World Champion at the BBA World Championship Finals. Whether he was still there or not, she would still go to Japan and find out.
The girl told her parents her plan at breakfast. Her mother and father understood how she felt and agreed to help her find Kai. Two days later, they were on a plane bound for Japan. Vai stared out of the window. Wherever you are, I’ll find you, she thought. Kai - I’m coming to see you. She touched her locket, her fingers tracing over the words Best friends. I just hope we’ll still be friends when we meet, she added silently, or I’ll never get to tell him how I feel about him…The plane landed at Tokyo Airport. As she and her parents walked down the ramp and exited the plane, Vai steeled herself. This was it. The search for Kai had begun.
She stayed in a hotel with her parents in Tokyo for one night while she found out more about Kai’s whereabouts. It turned out that he was still in Japan and was staying in a small coastal city some distance from Tokyo called Bay City. This was where she would search for him. She clutched the sapphire-blue Beyblade in her pocket and smiled as she watched the busy city of Tokyo below her hotel room window. Maybe she would even get to challenge him to a Beybattle.
The next day, she and her family took a train from Tokyo to Bay City. They found a hotel to stay in and began to unpack their belongings. As soon as her unpacking was done, Vai locked the door to her room and loitered outside her parents’ room. There was a big park in the city - and it was the first place she wanted to search for Kai. Her parents happily allowed her to go to the park on her own. The teenager walked down the pavement until the park came into view. She slid down one of the grass slopes there and looked around. Water flowed in front of her, and on the other side of it she saw a big playground, full of swings, slides and things to climb on. Further on, there was a small forest and a flat mini-plain of grass before it. She smiled. The Central Park was beautiful!
Her good hearing picked up a faint but unmistakable sound. The sound of a Beyblade spinning. Eagerly, Vai followed the sound. A white Beyblade wove magical moves over the smooth terrain of the playground. Its Bit Chip flashed a sky-blue colour in the summer sunlight. The blade careered back to its owner. Vai looked up to see a dark-haired boy a little older than her collect up his Beyblade. Her eyes widened. It was the Beyblade World Champion, Tyson Granger, the boy whom Kai had battled against in the Finals! Maybe he would know where Kai was. Vai had heard that he had once been team-mates with Kai - whether they were still, she didn’t know. But there was the possibility that he knew something about Kai’s location. Taking a deep breath, Vai addressed Tyson. “Tyson, would you know where Kai Hiwatari is?” she asked.