Title: Odd2

Rating: T

Pairing: KaixMax

Notes: This is me finally upgrading my first yaoi fanfic from a decade ago; hopefully this one will be superior to the old one and with an actual plot… Maybe.

Summary: Max has developed a crush on someone he didn't think would ever like him back.

The Asian tournament had its grand opening, the four bladers, along with their tech watched the opening with trepidation, excitement and indifference. The feelings that came from each blader made the team seem rather off, but somehow they would pull off a win, they weren't lacking in determination, or skill.

Once they returned to the cabin that they were staying at, four of them stayed up, although one was busy fixing up things for their beyblades, while the other three talked amongst themselves. Of course it was soon time to sleep, the Chinese blader yawned dramatically, and making a point to the other's that they needed to rest.

"We do have a match to win tomorrow," The brown haired boy said, shutting down his laptop and gathering his equipment, although to everyone's surprise, he didn't turn in, instead he left the room to continue his work elsewhere.

"Do you think the Chief ever sleeps?" Rei asked the others, worried about the boy.

"Don't worry Rei, he'll be fine, I've never really seen him that tired before," Max said, making his way to his bed that was between the Chinese balder and the captain of the team, who was currently sleeping and faced away from them.

As they all settled down, with Rei switching off the light, they all drifted off to sleep.

Although Kai, the team's captain, was wide awake, unable to sleep properly; he wasn't sure why he couldn't sleep either, considering they had travelled a long way and surly the jet-lag would have kicked in at some point? Not to mention that he had to deal with Tyson for the majority of the journey, although Kenny and Max tried to help, somehow the boy kept bugging him.

Can't he take a hint? He had thought to himself at the time.

Now here he was just lying on the bed, which was surprisingly comfortable, and listening to the other members of his team sleeping. Tyson was tossing and turning as he always did, no matter how violently he tossed around in his bed, he had never fallen out.

Yet. Kai thought to himself with distain, he knew that he would never, ever get along with the loud blader, it was obvious the two of them were far too different to ever be able to put their differences aside, not that Kai would ever want to.

He knew that Kenny was still awake, having heard the boy leave the room before the other's turned in, gone off to work on Max and Tyson's beyblades, while Rei's beyblade, Drigger, was always with him, when he was awake he'd let Kenny look it over, but never at night.

Kai thought about Rei, he knew there was something not quite right about him but he couldn't figure out what that could be.

He's no traitor, he's far too loyal. Kai sat up and looked over at the Chinese boy, sleeping on his side and only turning in his sleep every so often.

Now his thoughts turned to Max, in the bed right next to him, he was curled up, looking content and relaxed, unlike the chirpy and happy look he has when he is awake. Hyper-active at times.

He does look cute… Kai paused for a moment and realised what he had just thought, he shook his head and turned over to face the wall; I've been around these idiots for too long… Even as he thought those words, looking away at the wall to his other side, he could still picture Max's face, how it looked so peaceful when he slept.

Tch, it doesn't matter, even if we were both that way we could never be together. I have my reputation to protect and Max… Max isn't like me at all; he really is the polar opposite. Always so cheerful and ready to try and make friends with anyone, even me! If he wasn't straight he'd most likely go for Tyson, if Tyson was also that way. They click together. He paused, feeling his eyelids getting heavy; Early match tomorrow…

XXX

Max breathed a sigh of relief, unable to get over the fact that they had almost been kicked out of the tournament, all due to Tyson sleeping in and Ray staying behind to wake him up. Of course to make matters worse a landslide happened.

Good thing Kai decided to battle while they were on their way or we really would have been kicked out. Max thought to himself and gave a quick glance at the captain of their team; He always acts so cold and distant, but somehow, I don't think he really is like that. Maybe it's just a persona he had when blading, since it's what he focuses on most; he probably never has any real friends. But when he sleeps, he looks really peaceful, he looks so normal without the scowl on his face all the time, although I do have to wonder if the two are the same, even though I know they are. Max looked away, watching the sunset; I owe him one, after all he is the one who helped me get Draciel, if he hadn't made such a powerful attack I would never have gotten Draciel! Even if he managed to beat me, I guess I knew that I was never going to win the match, after all, he was the returning champ, there was no way I could have defeated him; though when Tyson defeated him. I think he was crushed. I really felt sorry for him, Kai had never lost a match before and then he loses to this 'rooky', which I guess Tyson is.

It's unfair to say that about Tyson, but… I can't take back what is true, besides I would never say it to his face; but he never thinks things through, he needs the Chief and Dizzi by his side to help him out, but half the time any advice that is given he'll ignore until the last minute. That must be what bugs Kai that Tyson never thinks, he just goes rushing right in.

I need to get out of here! I never thought that Tyson could snore, talk, toss and turn all at the same time!

The blonde haired boy sat up and began to leave his nice, warm bed with reluctance, he slowly made his way towards the common room, a chilled place where the team could all just sit together and relax before they left to go to the arena.

Unbeknownst to him, his neighbour in the bed next to him was also up, and had been for a while, Kai was sitting in the dark watching the moon, thinking about the next battle, when he spotted the lone figure coming into the room.

"Max?" Kai looked at the blonde haired boy, who now looked sheepish.

"Hey Kai," Max said softly, coming over to sit on one of the chairs.

"Why are you up? You're facing the White Tigers tomorrow," Kai scolded him, trying to figure out at the same time what reason the blonde could have for being up.

"I know, but… "He contemplated lying, but knew Kai was too smart to fall for it; "Tyson woke me up,"

The bluenette nodded slowly, it was the reason why he always went up to the back of the bus, he could sleep without much trouble and the other's never noticed. Tyson had a habit of always keeping him up most nights, although it was through no real fault of his own, but regardless the lack of sleep never affected Kai's game, as he had proven today.

"We really should do something about him," Kai finally said, though he never looked back at Max though, keeping his eyes to the window.

"Tie him up and gag him?" Max suggested jokingly; which brought a slight smile to the pale boy's lips.

"I'm sure Mr Dickinson would love that," Kai said sarcastically.

"Well, we need our sleep too," Max then had a moment of inspiration; "Besides, you could take Tyson's place,"

"I'll only battle when or if I have to," Kai told him; "You three can take care of the rest, besides Max, you could use some training,"

"Hey!" Max felt the sting to the word; Does Kai think I'm not good enough?

"Just remember when you got your bit beast," Kai pointed out; "Just before we left to come here,"

Max had moved over to hear Kai, since the boy had whispered most of his words so that the rest didn't wake up. They were close to each other, practically feeling each other's breath on their cheeks, until they both heard a noise they moved back at the same time.

"Guys?" Kenny came into the room and yawned, covering his mouth with his hand; "Why are you up? You have to face the White Tiger's tomorrow,"

"Tyson won't shut up," Kai said bluntly

"What are you talking about?"

"You need to hear it to believe us Chief," Max said and got up, brushing past Kai to push Kenny into the room.

"Unbelieveable,"

"Yea," Max said with a slight smile; "Bet you've never seen that in your stats, huh Chief?"

Kai smirked at that joke; it was a common phrase that Kenny used.

"Humph, I'm sure we can sleep through it," Kenny said, slightly grumpily; "It's only one night," He walked away from the two and climbed into his bed.

"One more night?" Max repeated with a sigh; "By tomorrow I would have gone mad,"

Kai walked into the room, Kenny had a point, they could last it out for one more night; "Just try to sleep Max," He got into his bed and face the wall, trying to will sleep to come to him.

Max followed and curled back into his bed, looking over at Kai's two toned hair, wondering what would have happened if they got too close to each other again, they had only moved away when they heard a noise.

Maybe once this is all over we can talk… But what if this was nothing more than an accident? Max tried to shake the thought away; But it's Kai, I had invaded his personal space right? He would have done something about it right away, not just let it be for so many minutes.

Both the boy's had admitted in their heads that they liked the other, whether obvious or not, but neither of them believed that the other would actually want to be with the other.

Just need to get through this next day. They both thought at the same time.

XXX

The next morning they were waiting on the bus to pick them up, Kai and Kenny had both managed to grab as much sleep as they could, as did Max, but the blonde blader showed how tired he was, he wasn't as bouncy as he normally was. He had bags under his eyes, but the other three never noticed it, but Kai did.

However, although the bluenette blader was mean and rude, and blunt, he just couldn't face going to Max and telling him, right after Kenny had announced the positions they would be taking, that he would take his place.

He still wants to battle, even though he's tired. Kai thought to himself, although impressed with Max, he was also a bit disappointed too; He needs to realise that he has to focus on the match ahead, to ignore the weakness in his head, to know that this match will help our team get ahead and go the full way, to the World Championship. He paused in his thoughts; What am I doing? He didn't understand why he was feeling so, protective of Max.

He sighed as he followed the others onto the bus, once again taking a quick nap in the back of the bus.

XXX

Max had lost twice to Gary, with Kai shaking his head slightly; You've lost to a guy with half the brain of Tyson! He wanted to shout, but there was something more important to focus on, Rei would be going against his old friend, which would also prove to be a close match if he allowed his feelings to get in the way.

Max had noticed that Kai was glaring at something, although he wasn't sure if it was because of how badly he had lost that match, or due to who Rei was fighting against; Maybe it's both. The blonde thought; noticing that the quiet boy took more interest in this match than his own.

Maybe he likes Rei? Max shook his head, although his team just thought he was trying to wake himself up; I shouldn't assume that Kai is like that though, but maybe Rei is closer to Kai like a friend, they are both serious when they need to be. He looked down at his hands; I need to talk to someone about this, maybe I'm just being paranoid… Maybe Kai has lots of girls waiting for him when he gets home. Come on Max, this is nothing more than a stupid crush, it should affect you; it's Kai, he doesn't seem able to love anything.

Max tried to focus on the match, watching as the two bit beasts crashed into each other; I bet one day I will look back on this and laugh… Probably the day when Kai is married, to a woman who can get through that wall of his.

Kai kept his eyes on the battle in front of him, happy that Rei managed to win his match, but knowing that it would be a lot harder, since it was Tyson against Lee.

Tyson's will be a sitting duck… Kai thought to himself, but found his mind straying from the match and onto a certain blonde haired boy next to him; This might very well end in a draw… He thought as he watched each blade slam into the other.

In the end, the final match was between Rei and Lee and the Bladebreakers were lucky that Rei managed to defeat his friend and former team mate.

We won! Max cheered loudly and ran over to hug Rei; "We're off to America!"

Tyson cheered as well, joining in on the hugging, while Kenny cheered, quickly checking over the data that Dizzi managed to collect before joining the others, with Kai remaining to the side.

Maybe I should talk to my dad about this when I get home. Max thought as they moved out of the arena; I really hope he can help me out, because this is just a really bad distraction, one that I don't need.

They walked towards the bus, with Kai being the last one to get on and returning to his usual seat at the back.

"Oh come on Kai, you're not ashamed of us are you?" Tyson teased him from where he sat at the front.

"Tyson, I can sit where I want," Kai snapped back at him.

Tyson turned round and looked at his three friends; "Jeez, what's his problem?" Although Kai heard, he never replied.

"Leave him alone," Max said and looked over at Kai for a moment, those dark brown eyes locked with his and he looked back at the other boy; "Maybe Kai isn't happy by the way that we won,"

"Eh?" Tyson looked surprised; "What do you mean?"

"Well, I only won one battle, Rei did great, and you only won one battle too, if you think about it, it was Rei who pretty much won the whole thing for us in the end," Max tried to point out

"Hey we still did a good job though," Tyson tried to argue back, not wishing to see Kai's side of it, not wanting to.

"Tch, leave him alone Tyson, you were sloppy," Kai finally spoke up, having heard everything; "At least max has admitted that he could do better. You had better be more focused at the American Tournament, because it is a lot harder than this,"

Rei nodded slowly; "He does have a point Tyson, we were sloppy when we battled the White Tigers. We could do with extra training when we get back,"

"Don't worry, we'll train when we get home, no problems, it's a bit late now and we can't exactly train on the plane either," Max said with a smile.

"Good idea, you're dad had a bey-dish underneath his shop right?"

"Yea! We can all train there!" Tyson perked up a bit.

Kai watched it all and felt his stomach knot over, he wasn't sure why, but the fact that Max had defended him – although he didn't need it, name calling was nothing to him.

Am I… Jealous? Kai wondered, as he watched the three talk, Rei was still smiling at Max; No, even if it was… I don't need any help! I don't need friends, they are for the weak, I am strong, and to be strong I need to rely on myself.

The two boy's kept away from each other for the rest of the journey, none of their team mates noticed, thinking that Kai was just being Kai.