Kai raced thought the hospital halls. this couldn't be happing. This was Takao they were talking about. the champion of world class Beyblading for 3 years in a row. The hero of their little world. This kind of thing doesn't happen to the hero. look at all the other things he had survived. The abbey, Kai had never known a stranger break in and reach the one they wanted from inside with out suffering. The time that he fought Tala, their first year together, he had won that and came out on top. Kai had watched as he was forced to fight in a dome of ice falling prey to the cold and still have enough left to take the beating Tala could give. But Takao did it, and he fought and he won. but now. The hospital was like a maze. Left, right, left Kai lost track of time as he flew past the other patients and nurses with only one goal in mind. To reach Takao.
Kai's body was beaten. His injures, gifts from Brooklyn, still covered his body and the pain that they brought was still fresh and crisp. by all means, kai should have been in the hospital not running around in it but this was kai. He had to see Takao fight. He couldn't lay in the White sheets found on his hospital bed, not while Takao, His Takao was forced to fight to save the world again, alone. Sure Takao now had Max and Rei back on his team, but Kai could see the loneliness that Takao still held with him. It hurt Kai more then the Wounds he carried on his body to know that Takao's new leading attitude came from the fear of not being needed again which Kai himself and the others had placed inside Takao's small body.
The duel haired boy got nearer and nearer the waiting room. he could hear the sounds of the other bladders that had gotten there before him. they all had left for the hospital as soon as the battle was over and they had seen Takao fall. the moment still lingered in kais crimson eyes. All he saw when ever they closed was how Takao won, his blade spinning a second longer then Brooklyn's, before he fell to the ground due to the extent of what he had put his body though. Kai could see why people would feel sorry for him, he had pushed himself he had lost his Dranzer, his partner, nearly breaking his body along with it, but what people didn't see, was what Takao was doing to himself. This thing with BEGA had been going on for over a week, and the strain of each day had taken its toll on Takao's body as he pushed himself everyday training and fighting so he wouldn't let anyone else down. Takao had won, but the cost Kai feared, may be more then he want to know.
Slowly, Kai reached the others. everyone was there, all in fear of what would happen to their champion. Kai watched as the girls cried and some of the more sensitive males sniffled and fought back tears. Kai would be to, if his heart wasn't so high in his throat. he found his team. Not the Blitzkrieg Boys but his real team, The Blade Breakers. Walking towards them his hidden ears caught what some where saying.
"not going to wake up..."
"broken ribs...body just giving up"
they couldn't be on about Takao. Right ?
It was the looks on the teams face that told him that they were. The whispered words that had stopped his heart beating were correct. They all believed Takao was going to stay sleeping. Hilary just cried while holding onto Kenny, as max found comfort off Rei. Gramps was standing along with Mr Dickinson while Hiroshi held his head in his hands. everyone looks so hopeless, so lost with out the light that Takao seemed to give off for everyone. Why had everyone given up on the one person who never would. why was no one telling him what was really happening. why, why,..
"why..." the word left Kai's lips sounding more broken then it had meant to. heads turned quick to look at the one eyed blader, seeing him for the first time since he had got there.
Kai rose his voice again, once more asking for a reason.
"why are you giving up on him?" not many words, but they spoke more then what was needed. rei, the member who seemed to be keeping himself together more then the others, rose his eyes to meet kais.
"They said his body wants to sleep, that it couldn't take what it was out though. Kai...they said that Takao's sleeping but he may not wake up..." Rei swallowed harshly before he continued.
"...the battle did more damage then anyone could have know Kai...the cuts are deeper then we could see, and the blows broke more then we could have guessed...Kai...why didn't Takao ask for help?"
Kai stood still. Takao would never ask for help. Not because of pride like himself, but because Takao was the kind of person who wouldn't want to lay his problems on others. He was the Kind who took others problems on top of his own, not place his on others. Not only that, but fear would have stopped Takao. Fear that if seen weak, the others would lose the hope they had at winning, lose the belief that he had worked so hard to put into each of them. No one said any more.
Hours had passed. The others had been forced home with only Takao's family and Kai remaining. The only reason they had let Kai stay was because he was meant to be in hospital anyway. Mr Dickinson had taken the other Kinomiya's to have something to drink in the small cafe found down the hall after a lot of persuading. Kai waited for them to be out of sight before going inside the room which held the broken beyblader. his breath caught in his lungs at the site of the midnight haired boy. His torso was covered in bandages, rising so slowly that Kai feared it would stop all together in an instant. Blood seeped though the white cloth and the younger's hair was everywhere, his treasured hat missing in all the fuss. Takao just laid there, wired up and still seeming to be in an internal sleep.
It hurt to look at. seeing the same happy boy Kai knew well, also lay with no idea that everyone believed he would forever sleep. Kai had seen his team mate be hurt in the past. Rei by bryan and Tala was still laying his room. Kai had been hurt to see Tala like that, but this pain was different. Kai had always seem Takao so strong and now, as he lay in his sleep, he looked so weak and scared that Kai just wanted to hold him and take him away from the world that had caused him this pain.
waking further into the room Kai came to stop along side Takao's bed, bending down to become level with his angel. It had taken a while for him to get it, but as he sat outside with the others, thinking over why Takao's pain hurt him so much and then it hit him. His unforgettable want to beat Takao, was because he wanted Takao to see that he was strong enough for him. The coldness towards the younger had been his confusion over what his heart was telling him. He loved Takao, and it took him losing the beautiful boy to figure it out.
"Takao..." Kai's voice was soft, almost like he didn't want to wake the boy due to his load voice. "Takao, i know you love to sleep...but...I...I need you to wake up" His only reply was the beeping of machines as they worked to fix the injured boy.
"please Takao, I need to see you smile again...you love to smile...I love your smile..." the words where coming harder to say. Kai didn't know what he was doing, but slowly his hand caught hold of the younger boys hand. It felt cold. Takao should never be cold.
"Takao, I'm so sorry...please wake up, I know I left you alone to many times in the past,...but please, don't leave me now..." That was all Kai could take.
The wish that his heart had held for so long was now out for the one that he loved to know, only for him to get no answer, no sign that he had been heard. Kai broke down in tears laying his head on the others chest. Kai cried so hard and so painfully he never noticed the grip of the younger's hand get tighter on his own.
Sobs racked though his body. Making his shoulder shake and his own injures protest, but kai didn't care. broken words left his lips, pleas that his angel would wake up echoing off the walls back towards Kai.
"Takao...please..." more tears left his eyes. Now Kai's voice was softer then ever before, words hardly leaving his lips. "Takao...i love you, please, just wake up..."
"Please don't cry..." That voice,
"Kai...please don't cry," Kai's head snapped up quicker then it ever had before. Crimson met Blue, and all the pain that Kai had been feeling left. Takao was awake.
"Kai..." his voice was strained from what had happened, but Takao couldn't just lay there and say nothing while the person he craved cried their heart out on his chest. "Kai, why are you crying...Are you Hurt?"
"Takao...Oh god, your okay" Kai flung himself on Takao, mindful of both their injures, and held on for life. Hid loved one was back, Safe, and Kai was not going to let him go ever again. Before either could say or do anything else, Kai placed his lips on Takao's. They felt dry from the sleep, but still soft and Kai could think of nothing better then this.
"Kai...?" Takao look up at the Crimson Blader, his eyes hold confusion and what looked to be hope.
"Love you" Simple. That was all Kai Had to say and he knew they had been enough as he watched the confusion leave the blue eyes he loved so much leaving only the love they held behind.
"I love you to Kai."
