SlippingSanity: Ah! Don't kill me! I know that I have so many other fanfics to update, and I will, but I just really, really wanted to get this one out! (Well, this one and another one that will be a bit similar, but the other one I'm thinking about will be in the genre of "Horror".)

Title: A Pictures Worth Some Truths and Some Lies

Summary: The teams of Beyblading come under fire in the form of posting, publishing, and other forms of convincing material. Can they learn to live with the heated debates over which is right, which is wrong, which is acceptable, and which will tear their team apart? Will they be able to believe what is truth, even with so many truthful lies? Will they catch whoever is doing this?

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. Beyblade and all of its characters and events belong to Takao Aoki and to all of those whom have taken part in Beyblade's creation.

Character One: Max Tate Character Two: Kai Hiwatari

Pairings: Rei Kon/ Max Tate

Kai Hiwatari/ Tyson Kinomiya

And possibly others

Genre: Angst/ Romance

Rating: T

Chapter 1: A Warning

He loved being a celebrity. He loved being that one thing in people's lives that inspired them, whether it be inspration to be him or to beat him. It didn't matter to him because fame was fame after all. Not only was the fact that he was a celebrity to other the cause of his joy, but it was also his own proof. His celebrity status was his own proof to himself that he was the best. Fame was the reward he knew he recieved for fighting so hard to become the best. He was the best (he knew he was even before the fame, as he'd tell you himself), and now the entire world knew it!

Tyson gave us one of his many smiles of confidence, craned his neck back, and laughed heartily into the air.

"Even Kai knows I'm the best!" Tyson joked, his laughter continuing and spreading to the other people in the building. "Even though he won't admit to it!"

When asked why he believed that Kai wouldn't admit what he believed to be true to the world, Tyson's reply had been a simple shake of the head followed by his finger held up to his lips in the motions of shushing someone.

"It's a secret," he whispered.

"Oh, okay then," we replied before we dropped the matter and continued asking Tyson questions about his views on the next tornement (for more infomation on Tyson's replies, turn to page 53).

Our interview with the world champion ended late into the afternoon, something the red and white baseball donned teen was none to thrilled about.

"Aw man," Tyson moaned and he slouched as slowly walked down the stairs to the car his grandfather was patently waiting in. "I bet the old sourpuss'll make me train double for this."

Even as we waved our goodbyes to the sighing teen, though, we couldn't help but wonder one thing:

If what Tyson says is true, will Kai ever admit to us all that Tyson is better than him at Beyblading?

Kai exhaled and rolled his eyes as he read the last few sentences. Unlike what Tyson thought he'd do, Kai hadn't blown a fuse or launched Dranzer at the champ's face or anything of the like. He didn't really care about what the magazine said, nor did he care about what the world would think of him when they read the last line on the page.

What did catch his attention and twisted a nerve, however, was what Tyson had said about him being unwilling to admit that Tyson was better than he was. Kai was sure that he told Tyson on may occasions that Tyson was better than him, and that he would become stronger and beat the teen down to become the best. Kai was positive that he told Tyson that Tyson was his weakness and his strength, Tyson was what broke him but is also the one that forces him to grow stronger. With every launch of their blades, whith every contact that Dragoon and Dranzer shared, Kai silently informed Tyson that he was better than the team captain, but those same contacts were clashes that let Tyson know that he would one day rise to the top and defeat Tyson.

Kai stood in the corner of the Kinomiya dojo's walls, his arms tightening as they crossed his chest. At least, that's what Kai thought.

"You're not mad?" Rei looked up from the newly purchased magazine in Max's hands to Kai with one eyebrow raised.

"No."

"Whew!" Tyson exhaled dramatically as he wiped the invisible sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "I thought you were going to light me on fire or something. Good to know that you can handle a joke, Kai."

"I do what I can with what I'm given," Kai's tone of voice was laced with something only Max discovered, which sent the blonde in a small fit of barely contained giggles. Kai found himself squinting at Max with a small glare. He didn't say it, but it must have been obvious that since their first battle as a team, Kai hated the way Max could look beyond his words and actions and find something nice or level with the others on the team. At least now Kai had learned not to hate Max for that ability, but it became slightly annoying at times. "Something funny, Max?"

Max continued to laugh as Tyson thought over what Kai had said.

"Hey!" Tyson yelled with anger, jumping quickly to his feet from the coffee table to Kai's face. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"What it sounded," Kai answered in a cool, casual manner with a shrug. "You, Tyson, are the joke."

"What?!"

"You heard me."

"What makes you say that?" Rei stood behind Tyson, holding him around the waist to keep the angry and yelling teen from starting more than a verbal arguement with the stotic team captain. "Tyson is the champion, so he's doing something right."

"Yeah!" Tyson agreed with Rei, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding sagely.

"Yes, he may be doing something right," Kai uncrossed his arms and walked past Rei and Tyson, his long white scarf softly shifting with Kai's movements, the tails giving off low snaps. He stopped in front of Max and eased the magazine away from the other boy's grip. Kai scanned over the two pages of typed words and intense pictures of Tyson before he held the book out to Rei and Tyson. "but in all of these pictures, I can point out at least two flaws in your Beyblading."

Rei released Tyson as Tyson took the offered book and gave it a quick glancing over before rolling up the magazine and tucking it under his arm. "I don't know what you're talking about. My blading is fine."

"Actually, Tyson," Kenny spoke up from his spot on the floor. He contined to type away on his laptop, the light from the screen reflecting off of his thick lensed glasses as he continued. "Kai's right. I did a look over of those pictures from the magazine's website and, even though from the shots that weren't candid and from the various competitions, there are noticible flaws."

"Way to be on my side," Tyson grumbled as he gave Kenny a playful glare. Kenny laughed sheepishly and scratched his head before starting to type again.

Tyson remained silent for a second longer before he and, from what he picked up, Rei and Max, asked the same question.

"What do you mean by 'candid shots'?"

Kenny sighed softly and turned his eyes away from his laptop's screen. "Just as I said, Tyson. You guys are famous in the world of Beyblading, I mean huge! It's only natural that people take pictures of you all need be for a magazine, enjoyment, or profit. This may sound fun," Kenny continued when he was going to stop as he noticed the smile growing on Tyson's lips. "and it probaly is, I want you all to be careful."

"Careful of what, Chief?" Max asked.

"Careful of what goes on with you. Some people might just take pictures for magazines or even just to know more about the lives of their favorite celebrities, but publicity at all times isn't always a good thing. Sometimes things about well known persons get mixed up in the onesided viewpoint, meaning that, well, a picture is worth more than a thousand words but not all of them have to be the truth." Kenny's face seemed to pale as he said this, his eyes back on the screen of his laptop.

"Like that could happen to us," Tyson waved his hand as if to casually dismiss the thought. "The BladeBreakers, or any team for that matter, wouldn't get caught up in anything like that!" Tyson laughed.

"I'd think again if I were you... " Kenny held out his laptop for the others to see.

"Whoa... " Rei breathed as he bent over to read the screen.

"I don't believe it," Max's eyes widened.

Kai rose an eyebrow at the screen and the big bold letters of the heading. His eyes glared at the laptop, red eyes attempting to burn a hole in the website and into whoever it was that wrote it.

"Team Captain's Actions Questionable: Training or Dating?"

Kai read the words and reread them again, his mind refusing to register what he was reading. He read the title once, twice, three times, but still the words remained foreign to him, as if the language had become some ancient signs in such a short amount of seconds.

"Tala?" Tyson asked into the air as he stared at the photo of said teen pasted next to the long article.

The black and white photo was of Tala and Bryan leaving a well known gym in Russia, Tala's arm around Bryan's waist, his head leaning against Bryan's shoulder with his eyes closed and his clothes rustled. Bryan's face was tilted towards Tala's, his facial expression soft for such a normally violent blader.

"Tala and Bryan dating?" Tyson rose an eyebrow and was, in a matter of seconds, sitting next to Kenny and reading the article that so quickly caught his attention.

Rei turned his head in Kai's direction, quickly noticing the unexpressed anger and confusion in the stotic captain. "Kai? Are you alright?"

"I'll be back later," Kai spoke an almost forced manner as he walked past the other occupants of the room and exited the dojo. Once outside of the dojo and away from earshot, he reached into his pocket and fished out his cellphone and flipped the top open. As he rose his finger to dial an extention, the phone rang and vibrated in his hands, the name of the very person he wanted to speak with flashing with the light from his cell phone screen. He pressed the green talk button and brought the cell phone to his ear.

"Tala?"

"Let me guess," The voice on the other end was rushed, angered and sarcastic, "You and your team read the article about me and Bryan that's online. Am I right?"

"Pretty much," Kai replied with a slight shrug as he leaned against the trunk of a tree. "What is that?"

"Don't get me started." Tala paused and scoffed, "I just called to let you know that there might be something bigger than that article. Something that's a threat to the team, if not, then the support and reputation of the individuals in my, your, or anyone else's team."

Kai's back stiffened as he listened to the words Tala spoke. His eyes hardened on the ground in front of him at the tone, and at what Tala was hinting at. "You think that someone is purposely posting things about teams that could be used against them?"

"I'm not saying that exactly, but it's a theory. The team has been doing back checks of such events and scams like this aren't all that rare. Apparently, there are supposed to be many different companies that try to prevent such a thing from taking place, but there ar just as many companies out there that are willing to spread lies for their own personal reasons."

"Anything else?"

"Not now."

"Okay, let me know if anything else comes up."

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye, Tala," Kai closed his cell phone and placed it back in his pocket.

The sounds of birds chirping as the flew overhead and the leaves in the trees rustling with the wind kept the calm in his thoughts. He let the warmth the poured in from inbetween the leaves fall upon his skin, the sun itself beginning to fall from it's high position in the sky. Night was beginning to take over the sky to the beautiful and odd day, and Kai couldn't have been the more relieved. He just had to wait and see what was around the bend and deal with it when the time came.

Kai shook his head, shaking off any idea of telling any of his teammates. Why bother them with something like this? Surely nothing of this level would bother the dynamics of the team he was captain of... well, except for Tyson, he supposed.

He shook his head once again, banishing any thought of the navy-haired teen. Tyson's reactions was one of the reasons for he withholding the news. He didn't want any attention to be brought towards his team, nor towards whatever was really happening. Besides--

"Kai!" Tyson yelled from the doorway, "Are you gonna stand outside and brood all day?"

The addressed teen glared from the tree he leaned against and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No? Didn't think so," Tyson smiled, "I know you know that Tala and the others will be fine. What's a little bit of questionable writing, right?" Tyson shrugged and walked back into the dojo, shouting something to Rei about Kai's actions.

Kai shook his head and pushed himself off of the tree. If it happens to you, would you be able to say the same thing? Kai thought as he walked into the dojo and closed the door behind himself with a gentle click of the lock.