Disclaimer: Beyblade and all their characters belong to... *HISS!* Nelvana. May the very essense of their anime tampering burn in hell. *mourns for CCS*

I've taken the liberties of making assumptions about certain elements, making this a sliiiight AU ^^; only because I currently don't know any better. But even when I do (which has finally come to pass), this story will still not change. And just to make it more legal, how about just imagining two boys 16 or older.

Tyson's Jap name is Takao and I leave Ray as Ray (as opposed to Rei), because I can name at least three other people in my universe whom I call 'Rei'; I like the change.

This takes place in the episode "Showdown in Hong Kong", between when they return to the hotel and the plane ride. The pairings: Kai/Ray, implied Lee/Ray, one-sided Lee/Mariah, one-sided Kevin/Mariah, one-sided Mariah/Ray.

Traitorous Tiger in Me

It was long into the hours of the night, hitting close to two in the morning. Their flight for the Asian Tournament left at noon. Mr. Dickenson retired early, after staying up to make sure the team returned safely from their adventure in the Hong Kong street markets. Kenny went to hit the sack shortly afterwards.

On the other hand, Max and Tyson had been wired. The sounds of pillows being through around in the room next door had finally died down scarcely half an hour ago.

Raymond was willing to bet they were asleep where they last fell, the lucky knuckleheads. The chinese boy let himself smile some, before it fell back into a deep frown.

He couldn't fall asleep. No, today's events plagued his thoughts with a vengence, keeping him from any peace he may find in slumber.. or from what devils may terrorize his dreams. And so he sat there, on his bed, remembering.

Gary....Kevin...Mariah...Lee. ...Oh Lee. He sighed loudly, visibly upset. Seeing them again, standing with confidence in their honed abilities, had nearly floored him to his knees in submission. Had Tyson and the others not been there, he might have crumbled.

Had Lee remained on the spot for another minute, hours of therapy would have been wasted in the single moment of him bearing his neck to the leader of the pack.

"They called me a traitor." Mariah had stated it rather venomously, and maybe he deserved it. Mr. Dickenson had taken him away from China and helped him in every way possible.... before placing him on the Beyblading team of Japan. And he had gone along with it. Was that traitorous?

On his bedside table, his Driger hummed softly, glowing a light green in sympathy. As Dizzi had shown, even Bit Beasts were capable of understanding a human; Driger was no different. He had seen what Ray had gone through, but being inexperienced in comprehending human acts, the tiger beast could only offer his limited comfort to his distraught partner.

Ray sighed again and fell backwards, lying limp on the mattress. Idly, he fingered the yin-yang band still on his brow and thumbed it off, letting his raven-black hair fall free. ...Am I two-face? he mused, eyeing the symbol in the streaming light from the windows. It would make sense... but...

His train of thought was disrupted as the door to his room was forced open. No knock, no warning. Just opened. Ray shot back into a sitting position and put a hand up to block the hall light from his eyes.

It wasn't hard to identify the silhouette. If the strong posture, the forearm gauntlets, and the scarf draped around the neck wasn't a dead give-away, it was the up-tight voice that did it. "We need to talk. Now."

Ray, for one, was somewhat taken aback. "K--Kai..."

The defeated champion strolled into the room, hardly waiting for Ray to give his consent, and closed the door. Plunged back into semi-permeable darkness, the small lamp that was also bedside was clicked on, and Ray was treated to the sight of an irrate teen, stony and hard. "357."

Dumbfounded, Ray blinked. "..What?"

"357 hours on you back in a psychologist's office, 119 days, three hours per night, seven days a week. What for?" Not a question. A demand.

Ray surged up onto his feet in offense, only to be forced back by hands on his shoulders. "What-- How-- What's it to you?!" he shouted.

"Ch'." Kai folded his arms and stared the other teen down. "It's my obligation to know everything about my teammates, being /captain/ and all."

Ray bared his teeth and shot back up, and again was knocked back down onto the bed. He opened his mouth to retort, but Kai cut him off. "It's easy to read people, when you know what to look for. Tyson is a bona fide idiot with a lucky streak. Max is obviously a better 'blader, just too peppy. And you... you're the strong-voiced quiet type. And I was sure I nailed you all... and then /you/ proved me wrong.

"I'm not blind, 'Raymond'. Today, you just shot my image of you straight to hell." He narrowed his eyes dangerously. "And I don't like to be shown up. Not at all."

The chinese boy didn't like where the line of topic was heading. "And that gives you the right to snoop around in /my/ business?!"

"When one of the people I'm ordered to rely on is called a /traitor/, it certainly does!"

Ray gaped stupidly, then collected himself. He really hadn't been expecting Kai to raise his voice. "....Is that all you want to rub in my face?" he asked hotly.

Kai snorted. "Hardly. .... I want your conformation."

Pause. "Huh?"

The grey-banged boy sat down beside Ray, his stoney face not shifting a muscle. "I saw the way you were acting around those White Tigers. Shaking like a leaf in a storm, barely any eye contact. ...And yet, if you were honestly afraid, you would have gotten defensive..like you did less than a minute ago."

Ray sniffed.

"And what I told Takao.. ch', definitely true. It's none of his business, especially if he couldn't see the truth right in front of him. But then again, Takao's too simple minded to handle most information, let alone spot the hidden obvious.

"Dickenson recorded in one of his books about rescuing a protégé from 'a life worse than death' while recruiting in China. No shit that's you."

The golden eyed boy growled and inched away from the other boy. "What are you trying to ask me, Kai??"

Kai's eyes hardened and, quietly (but no less cold), ventured, "How many times did you let them screw your brains out?"

The attack was lightning; it struck his cheek with solid precision, knocking the master of Dranzar down to the floor. And Ray towered over him, his body trembling with something briefly akin to fear. "What," he inquired, his voice shaking, "gives you the right to pry into business that's not your own?!"

Kai didn't reply right away. Instead, he just stared, his expression unchanged, and brought an idle hand to his cheek. And it was completely silent for moments, seconds, almost a minute... before a touch of a smirk tugged at Kai's lips. "You might as well tell me the other half of the story, since I know the part with your dirty secret. No point in holding back... or I might just make some assumptions that aren't entirely accurate."

Ray flinched, his face twisting into a fearful scowl. Mentally bashing his weak resolve and spirit, he turned his head to spit out a soft curse and sat back down on the bed, eyes shut tight. "If you want to know so damn badly, you'll sit, listen, and keep your mouth shut."

Kai didn't need to be told twice. He was beside Ray in an instant, having bounced back with the energy of an excited child getting ice cream, but-- as Ray noticed with a nervous swallow-- with the leer of a seductive snake getting his way.

And the fact that Kai was much too close for comfort wasn't helping.

"Invasion of personal space, Kai."

"Right." Gained were the inches, but the look was far from running any time soon.

Ray clenched his fists out of reflex and placed them in his lap, his body already dreading the tale he had to retell.. ".....The group and I used to live in a semi-isolated, mountainous area in inner China; we had access to two major towns at the base of the range, but mostly we were left to our own ways.

"Back then, I...I had a crush on Lee. Maybe when I was 8 or so, I can't say just when it happened. I never told him though. Not because I thought it was wrong, but for the simple reason that it seemed embarrassing. ..No different if it were a girl...

"And.. we all began to grow up. ...We were the tightest of friends, Lee, Gary, Mariah, Kevin.. and me. But as all people soon realize, we also became less naive about the world. I was still pining after Lee, trying to get closer to him as we worked on our beyblading techs. But he never felt the same. His eyes, as well as Kevin's I think, were on Mariah.... and she wanted only me."

The raven-haired boy paused his story to glance a look at his captain; Kai's expression was finally neutral again, as it had been when he had crashed on in. Ray let a corner of his lips tug back into something that wasn't a smile, nor a frown, and continued. "Not too long ago, about three years back, I had contracted an illness from out of nowhere. ...I don't remember much of was happened while I was bed-ridden, but the town doctor said I had been delirious from the high fever. And apparently, Lee had stayed by my side when no one else was around, as everyone but my parents and the doctor were unallowed to be with me..

"He told me about it after the fever had broke.... and then.... and... and then... Sometime when he had been around, I had gotten my feelings across to him.

"I was still bed-ridden and unable to run; that's what I had planned to do if he ever found out, since I knew they weren't returned. You can't imagine how I had felt, just him knowing that... that I was enfatuated with him.... ...And as I was babbling, saying that whatever I said wasn't true... he.... leaned over and.. k-- kissed me on the cheek.."

Ray turned his head to stare out the window, attempting to keep whatever tears he shed out of sight, as he had no doubts that Kai couldn't tell they were dripping down his face. Bitterly, and surprisingly less choked then he thought it would be, he said, "The beginning of a loveless relationship.

"I didn't know why, at the time; Lee might not've either. But it happened. ... And happened. Again and again. As much as I wanted to, I didn't put my heart in it... It was the one thing Lee ever had the advantage in, and his feelings for Mariah never changed. And out beyond the locked door, it was like our trysts never happened. We were still the best of friends.

"But it all ended about seven months ago. Lee's grandfather had given his Driger blade, as well as Driger himself, over to me. The next night, I left to persue battles with others who possessed the Bit Beasts... One of those months went by and I was here, in Hong Kong. Dickenson had heard of my lone wolf reputation and skills. He recruited me, and then practically adopted me..

"A week later-- we were still in China-- it started. Lee left a harsh imprint on my mind, and since I had settled down, I realised it. For those few years, he had dominated me. It... I... You could sometimes find me on the street corners after dark..."

The implication was enough for Kai. "Skip it."

Ray sighed shakily, and squeaked a curse when it ended with a sob. "I hated being used, I didn't want to be. But when Mr. Dickenson discovered me one night not too long after, I was disgusted and relieved with myself at the same time. And Mr. Dickenson set me up with a psychologist. 'I can't have you throw your own life down the gutter for what some stupid boy did,' he'd said. ....I was lucky it only took four months.."

A pale hand reached over and grasped Ray's chin, turning the boy's head to face Kai again. Ray's cheeks were stained and soaked, but his eyes still held a small strength in them. With a strange gesture of fondness, Kai brushed his thumb over the dark skin, wiping away the salty water on that one side. And with his face still masked with stone, but his voice softened to something akin to affection, he stated simply, "You're weak, Ray."

The chinese boy flinched; Kai reached over to the bedside and grabbed the Driger blade, holding it up to Ray's face. "It's why you started to break when that little worm showed up... and only got worse when the rest of the gang began to appear....

"Ray. You are in possession of the Bit Beast Driger, one of the four God Kings entitled Byakko. They demand honor, respect, and strength to harness. And Byakko demands loyalty. No one wants a 'traitor', not even a desperate Beast. If you're not careful from now on, Raymond, you could lose your precious tiger."

Ray narrowed his eyes and Kai reached behind himself with his other hand. He produced his own beyblade, Dranzar, and held the two side by side. "I also have a God King, Suzaku. He demands a lot from me. Power, determination, strength... He demands _perfection_ of me. Except there is one aspect I could never offer to him, that is so important to one who rules the fire."

Kai put the two 'blades back on the table. Ray had a raised eyebrow aimed in Kai's direction as the japanese boy straightened back up, tears and sorrow momentarily forgotten. "..What aspect is that?" he asked uncertainly.

A striking cobra was the image that Ray received when Kai's face came up to his, the tips of their noses just touching; a blush touched Ray's cheeks. And Kai murmured a single word with such conviction, confidence, and devotion, it sent a nervous shiver down Ray's spine...

"Passion."

A single word that transended the game to a higher plane, for not even two seconds went by when Kai caught Ray's unguarded lips in an intimate lock. Gold eyes widened and red eyes closed, neither making any more or any less of a kiss. The whole room burst with noise. The ticking of a clock, the sounds beyong the windows, the light breathing inhaling and exhaling. blood rushing through their veins, two heartbeats slightly accelerating. And sound became void.

Ray was the one to pull back first, shock making his mind numb and rendering him speechless. Kai's eyes flew open, and Ray recognized the wavering irises as a look that Lee had behind the doors. Except, Kai had something softer in his. Much more softer...

"Fire craves the heat of life," whispered the dual-haired boy, half-lidding his eyes, "and passion makes the flames burn harsher, thicker, warmer. ....Yes, I would fuck you, Ray, and it will lack the love you've wanted. But if it meant that you would clean yourself of what Lee did, then I would do it maybe times over, because I will not have a traitor on my team. ..Because you are a damn fine 'blader, Ray, and I will not lose my chance to win to an ape like him.

"You are a Bladebreaker. Now and forever. And I can help you where no Dr. Freud could ever. Put a little trust in me."

It meshed, crashed, collided, and shook him, disturbed him, lifted his spirit, dammed his conscience. Ray tried to process every bit of information given to him; at the same time, Kai busied himself on nibbling delicately at the shell of the other's ear. Kai just wants to win. And he wants to help me to ensure that he does. ....But I spent /ALL/ that time in a little office, baring my heart to some woman whose name I.. I ...don't even.... um, even... Dammit Kai, stop that! ... Ohh, wait, don't.. I mean..! ....whose name Idon'tevenremember! What if it doesn't work?! I'd be back to square one /again/! .... Do /that/ again, would ya? ... Crap.

A tiny moan doomed him to the lain path. Kai smirked and pulled away, reveling in the soft expression on Ray's face. Dark skin flushed even darker, eyes fluttered closed, parted lips with fangs just barely visible-- I wonder what's it like to have those-- and gentle breath panting from them.

Brazen gold finally appeared, heavy with a mixed fervor, and locked tightly onto wine red. The red irises flickered momentarily, but then steeled over, determined to show the other who would be in charge...

"I put my trust in you Kai," he said finally, "because I have nothing much to lose. However, you do."

"You're right," whispered Kai darkly. "I do.."

x.@ I regret messing with the plot to more fit the canon. Should've left it as a major AU.

*sigh* I would have posted this once I wrote the lemon, then followed it up with an epilogue, o___o but, um... crud. I would /really/ love to do a scene that I have in my head *_*;; but this fic probably shouldn't have it. *so confuuuused*

Stupid question of the day: who wants sex? o.o;

*figures, she can write the bloody smut, upload that as a part of this, /and/ then put up the epilogue with it* Yah! ^____^ ..... ;;;; Now I just have to record the "Hidden Lion, Crouching Tiger" episode to get my needed scene. x__X the things I do for the one I hate.