Tyson to a Different Tune

Track 4
Different Sides of the Fence


They were walking to his place after school maybe a week later. Tyson held the handles to his bike to guide it alongside himself while Max and Hilary used the sidewalk. He steered his two friends through the residential area on a shortcut to the dojo.

"Max and Hilary, sitting in a tree!" A high-pitched buzzing rang through the air.

The two in the tree groaned, their elbows clunking together in dismay. Tyson looked around frantically for the perpetrator.

"What was THAT?" He asked but Hilary was already halfway down the street, almost running. Tyson and Max bolted after her.

When they rounded the bend a red blur jumped in front of them and suddenly attached itself to Hilary.

"K-I-S-I-N-G!!" The voice sang badly again and Tyson spied a redheaded kid. He watched Max peel the demon off Hilary who looked about ready to throttle someone.

"Shut up Daichi!!" The girl hissed at the short kid. "And it's spelt with two S's you brat! How old are you, five?!"

"No, I'm thirteen." Daichi rolled his eyes and huffed. "You KNOW that."

"Well you act three." Hilary sighed, long and suffering and the kid immediately switched tactics.

"Don't you have candy in your bag?" He immediately started digging into her backpack and she screamed, twirling around to try and get the kid off her back.

Daichi fell off and the girl boxed his ears causing them both to start shouting loudly again.

Tyson threw his hands up in his air. "What!?"

"Daichi's from the primary school a few blocks from here." Max shook his head and grinned. "She's tutoring him."

The pony-tailed teen remembered that school, he'd done one year there before he'd moved away. Daichi happily bugged Hilary, running around the group as they continued down the route to the dojo.

"Believe me, I'm only doing it as a favour to his mom. He's the most annoying kid I've ever met." Hilary bit out and pushed the kid away again.

"He doesn't seem THAT bad." Tyson laughed and scratched his head through his hat. Somehow he remembered being that energetic when he was that age. It had been before he'd moved to the upper school of the BBA.

Daichi stopped his running in circles and pushed his face into Tyson's surprised one.

"Why're you wearing such tight pants?!" Daichi pointed at the guitarist's slim grey jeans in sudden terror. "ARE YOU A YUNICK?"

"A what?" Tyson asked incredulously.

"It's eunuch, Daichi!" Hilary had a view throbbing on her forehead. The guys threw her curious looks. "Don't you people know history? Eunuch! They were castrated men. Daichi's all obsessed with them because they're doing a history project in school."

"I'm not obsessed!" Daichi screamed at the same time Tyson shouted, "WHAT! You little gnome!!"

He clawed at the kid who skipped just out of reach.

"Don't worry he's been calling everyone that. Last month he was pretending he was a dinosaur because they did a project on that." Hilary rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't speak a real word for days."

"Nyah!!" The kid stuck his tongue out. "Seeya next week Grandma!!" He laughed and ran up the street they'd just come down, kicking old discarded pumpkins and decorations. He was probably on the mother of all sugar highs. Hallowe'en had just been a few nights ago after all.

Hilary was still ranting angrily about the kid when they walked inside the dojo.


Ray showed up at his place an hour later, the Chief in tow.

The sporty teen cast impressive looks around the training hall. "Wow Tyson, nice place." He whistled.

"Ray!" Tyson shouted with a grin. Max stopped his crazy drumming on his practice pad and Hilary could finally uncover her ears. "Chief!!" Tyson yelled even louder when the shorter teen appeared behind Ray and Hilary covered her ears again.

"Ahh!" Kenny screamed in retaliation. "What?!"

"You haven't come to check up on my e-Shakespeare… have you?" Tyson cautiously closed one eye, the other squinting in suspicion.

"Of course not!" Kenny looked irritated.

"Oh." Tyson replied and everyone chuckled.

Ray was carrying the bass and sat down on the soft wood floor to set it up. Things were going great. It put excitement in his chest that all these amazing people had come together just because of him and that feeling began to bubble over each time they practiced.

Tyson wasn't sure how his gramps would feel coming home to a bunch of instruments going full blast in the practice room but he was sure they'd find out since it was getting close to the time he invaded the dojo to do who-knew-what.

"So…" Tyson started off articulately and then he muttered the rest. "I'mgonnaaskKaitobeintheband."

Everyone stared at him.

"What was that?" Ray asked.

"I SAID, I'm gonna recruit a new member…" The guitarist explained and then began to play through his practice notes fervently.

Interested, the group crowded around and Max took away Tyson's music pages.

"Who is it?" Kenny asked.

Ray nodded. "Is it another guitarist?"

Max and Hilary's curious expressions slammed shut and they looked at each other in a terrifying mirror image of comprehension.

"He wouldn't…" The blond started and the brunette finished, "He would!"

Tyson scratched his head. "Yeah, um, well it's Kai!" He grinned and then looked confused. "You mean you two knew he played guitar and didn't TELL me?"

Max smacked his face. "I knew this would happen but I liked pretending it wouldn't!"

Ray and Kenny just looked even more confused though weary about having to take part in solving the notoriously rotten Hiwatari Mystery.

"Kai was in the school band back when we were freshmen. I don't know if he was forced into it or what, but he always hated being there. It's how he and Carlos became friends and their little gang got started." Hilary lectured, leaning on the music stand. "We've never had a guitarist since."

"They did love their hate." Max said, rubbing the side of his arm in remembrance. "Do you know how many times Carlos poked me when I got his position as first drummer?" He shuddered. "He sat behind me everyday to do it!"

Hilary patted his back, like this was a longtime suffering they comforted each other on.

Kenny had flipped open a laptop and was clacking away. "Well, according to my pie-chart Tyson, your chances of Kai joining are pretty much nil."

Tyson's eyes bugged out and he peered at the screen, wondering if the Chief had managed to pull that together just now to make his plan seem even more daunting in visual format.

"Yeah…" Ray pondered, eyes toward the ceiling. "Somehow Kai doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to jump at every whim and fancy no matter how fun you make it sound." He hefted the bass with a grin. "And it is! I guess, to agree, it would have be on his own terms."

"Hmm… on his own terms." Tyson said in an ominous tone, and the resulting smile on his face made the others step back in fear.

"What's with that face?" Max said with dread.

"Tyson you look evil!" Kenny complained, and Tyson wiped it off with a laugh, holding the back of his head.

"Okay everyone," Hilary clapped her hands loudly. "Back to work!"

And then Grandpa Granger walked into the room with just a tiny towel and sandals on, effectively scarring them all for life. The old-timer yelled up a storm, whipping out his kendo stick from no where making everyone scream in terror. His towel dropped around his ankles.

"Er…" Tyson was blushing, badly. Only family could do such horror. He hung his head.

"Everyone, meet my Gramps. Gramps… um, meet the band."


The next chance he got was the following Wednesday after a particularly nasty gym day. Coach Clef had made them run laps, running out of things for them to do before they switched units to track and field. Tyson was a little sweaty and had to wait twice as long for Kai to finish his customary after-gym shower to follow him home.

A lamp in the little shack in the back of the Hiwatari residence flicked on.

Kai's eyes looked silver in the sudden light and it was as good a time as any to ask.

"So, do you wanna be in my band?"

Kai turned slowly, an almost sinister look in his now normal auburn eyes. "What?"

Tyson stepped forward in conviction, toeing off his shoes in the process. "If I win a beybattle against you, will you join my band?"

The other teen stared at him for an eternally frustrating minute before smirking and a terrible "Ha!" escaped his lips. "Are you serious?"

"Yes…" Tyson said stubbornly. He raised Dragoon in preparation and Kai gave him a considering glance before turning his back and flicking on the rest of the lights.

They set up over the beydish. "Alright." Kai shrugged and Tyson blanched, unprepared for the approval.

"You WILL?" He said with glee.

Kai snorted. "You have to beat me first."

And that's how it started. The end of it all.


Tyson knew it would have to happen sometime. Kai wasn't invincible, and with spinning tops there was bound to be that one time his would prevail. It was, of course, only a matter of time. It was just too bad he couldn't jump out from behind a locker at Kai in the hallway at school or something, he would have had the element of surprise for sure. Walking into the shack was starting to feel like a planned execution each time they bladed, he'd lost count how many times he'd lost miserably.

It was cold in the shack and Tyson had to ball his fists up tightly so he wouldn't feel the burning of frostbite settling in. He found it hard to believe Kai used this place in the winter, as it was getting deep into November now. Maybe this was just cruel and unusual punishment.

Kai yelled out his blade's name, arm shooting out as if to attack. His hand was as steady as ever, as if he was used to the frigid temperature. Unlike Tyson, he didn't bother to wear a jacket or winter hat.

Dranzer jammed against Dragoon and then there was a horrible grind as the blades dug a massive trench deep into the beydish.

The damage wasn't pretty when Kai knelt down to survey it.

Tyson cursed. "Do you have another?" He'd been so close!

Kai looked torn, as if he was making a big mistake but doing it anyway for the love of his hobby.

"Yeah…" He said quietly and then grabbed up the beyblades, tossing Dragoon to the guitarist.

"We'll have to go up to the house." His eyes were anything but cold, alive with the thrill of battle, and the guitarist shivered.

Tyson's mouth became a little 'o', and he cupped his freezing hands around Dragoon as if it could give him warmth. A house sounded really, really good right about now. He didn't dwell on the fact that the dual-haired teen was checking the clock, making sure the coast would be clear.

Tyson had learnt on one failed attempt to beat Kai why all the Beyblade stuff was kept in the shack.

His gramps hated it with a passion.

The pony-tailed teen had never seen this supposed family member. In fact, as they walked through the back door into a gleaming seashell coloured kitchen, he didn't see anyone in the gorgeous home. It was like a ghost house and Tyson was jumpy following the older teen, waiting for an old corpse to drop down on him from an unknown crawl space. It was kind of funny, Kai's glorified rec room looked more the part to be haunted but Tyson found it inviting now. Maybe that was just because it was only there that Kai let loose half smiles at him over a beybattle. He didn't think too much on that.

Kai shucked off his steel-toed boots by the front doors in the foyer and Tyson hastily did the same. Whoever cleaned this place would probably have their heads. It was all white and creams and the carpet was plush under his feet going up the stairs.

"So my birthday is coming up." Tyson offered. Suddenly a little nervous, he rubbed his elbow. Where were they going? "You're invited, I'm having a huge party!"

"Really." Kai said and he opened his bedroom's door.

It was sparse and spotless, like the rest of the house. There was a much nicer desk than what was in his shack and the bed looked like it could induce dreams by just touching it.

Kai stood up on his desk chair and opened a cupboard that lined the ceiling. He pulled out one of those portable plastic beydishes and blew it in harshly. A cloud of dust rose up and caught him in the face making him sneeze.

Tyson smiled. Now in the room, it was way too warm for his winter garments and sweater. He immediately chucked his toque and peeled the offending overstuffed jacket off. His worn red t-shirt got caught with the sweater, a gift from his gramps, as he pulled it over his head.

"Oops," The pony-tailed blader fumbled and pulled it back down. Kai was looking at him strange but it turned into a glare worthy of Coach Clef as he threw the dish down on the floor.

"Let's go." He said stonily and Tyson set up.

In the end it was probably the change in scenery that cinched the win for him. Kai's blade seemed more off balance, or maybe it was Kai who was. It could have been the new dish, or the fact that it was the perfect temperature to battle at. The clock in the hallway struck five and Kai's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"DRANZ—"

But this time Tyson was a little faster, his hands twisting down in a motion. "Dragoon, go!!" And Kai's blade spun straight out of the dish. Okay, so that had been a fluke, his blade didn't even hit Kai's or contribute to the victory but Tyson didn't care. When playing Beyblade, little details like physics were kind of ignored in favour of being able to gloat.

"YES!" Tyson cheered madly. "I WON!! That means you're mine Kai!" He cackled with glee, leaning against the wall to balance himself.

The dual haired teen was staring at him like he couldn't believe it.

"Alright, you did win." Kai was at his throat, he had a terribly competitive look on his face. "But it's your LAST. You're mine."

Tyson blinked in surprise.

Suddenly Kai started to laugh and it was as insane sounding as Tyson imagined it would be.

"I've been looking for someone to enter the Beyblading tournament with. They only let you sign up in pairs and make no mistake," He said quietly, wicked grin plastered on his face. It made the shark fin triangles on his cheeks curve downward into feral markings, like battle marks. "You still need a lot of work, but that's fine. The next tournament isn't until next summer."

Tyson stood there, mouth and eyes agape.

"We start training next week."

Kai had his hands on either of the shorter teen's shoulders in excitement or intimidation and suddenly Tyson became aware of it, like being burnt with a red hot poker. His blue eyes darted all around Kai's face, it could have been so handsome if he didn't scowl so much, but right now it was just…

Completely branded, Tyson reached up and held Kai's wrists gently, making the dual-haired teen frown.

"And what if I say no?" Tyson asked.

There was a sudden cold silence before Kai's hold turned into a fury of fists on either side of his head against the wall.

"No one refuses me." Kai exclaimed in nothing short of a snarl. The pony-tailed teen bit his lip, feeling the furious puffs of Kai's breath hit his face.

"Is that why you beat up Andrew?" His eyes locked with Kai's. It had all clicked into place.

There was a moment where they just stared at each other before the other's voice said quietly, "So?"

Tyson exhaled, it ruffled Kai's bangs a bit and the dual-haired teen looked like he was going to have an aneurism, his pulse was throbbing hard through his hand on Tyson's arm.

"You're way too passionate about it." The pony-tailed teen stated finally. A piece of hair fell into his eye and he shook his head to be rid of it.

Kai swallowed, looking away. "You can't control what you're passionate about."

"No," Tyson squinted softly, as if seeing something he'd never noticed before. "I guess not." He leaned close with a mischievous expression, his nose hitting Kai's before the other teen jetted backwards. "I like that about you." Tyson bit his lip, the edges of his mouth upturned in a grin.

Kai was wary, glaring for no apparent reason. He was always glaring though, so Tyson wasn't deterred.

"Do you always get so up close and personal when you're angry?" The tone was joking, but sincere, and Tyson's hand reached up to hold Kai's cheek.

The taller teen flinched away. The back of his knees hit the side of his bed and Kai was probably wishing he had his boots on so he could crucify Tyson's foot.

Tyson wouldn't back down though, and followed through, his hands gently taking grip of Kai's t-shirt. Effectively trapped, Kai flexed and un-flexed his sweaty hands.

The guitarist tilted his head back, looking into those crimson eyes. "Or is it just when you're passionate?" He whispered.

This was getting way too close for comfort. This wasn't just friendly anymore.

A great shuddering breath escaped Kai's lips. He was embarrassed, it was obvious. His heart was beating miles a minute under Tyson's gentle grip.

The dual-haired teen caught his breath, feeling the throb of his blood right at his temple. It drowned out any background noise. Almost too violently, Kai pushed Tyson away. The kid stumbled back and tripped over his own feet, it was pretty funny but Kai was not in a laughing mood.

"Geeze! Are you trying to kill me?" Tyson asked angrily. He steadied himself against the sofa chair and stalked right back up to the other.

"You should leave." Kai's long bangs were covering his eyes, hiding whatever emotion he was shaking with.

"No."

Kai's teeth clenched so hard it was a wonder he didn't chip a tooth. "Leave."

Tyson didn't have to be told again. His arms went around Kai's middle like a vice, pressing them together so suddenly the taller teen nearly clunked heads with him. Tyson gripped him so hard his nails went into Kai's back.

The dual-haired blader froze. Tyson was so close; there wasn't anywhere that wasn't touching. The look in the blue eyes in front of him was dark and determined. It was…

"I'll do whatever I want." Tyson said with his lower lip jutting out, his jaw was clenched with something unrestrained. His nails went deeper as his lips overtook Kai's, kissing him hard. Their noses jabbed each other but Kai couldn't fathom trying to get out of it. Tyson breathed in through his nose deeply, Kai could feel the air drag across his top lip.

What the hell was Tyson—

His hands went to Tyson's hips and he shoved but it didn't work when he felt the other teen's mouth open against his. He opened his eyes, hadn't even realized they'd closed, and saw straight into Tyson's.

Almost unconsciously Kai's lips parted, his jaw just wanted to drop at the entire situation. Tyson seemed to notice and tilted his head slowly, making sure Kai watched and knew. His hands dragged up to Kai's shoulder blades, holding him easier against his own chest. Tyson closed his eyes, kissing the frozen teen again.

Kai flexed his hands, finding them still on the other's hips, his touch was feather light. He couldn't stop blinking, trying to glare at something but not being able to focus on anything. The long-haired teen's knee went onto the bed and slowly he coaxed Kai to sit down.

Yeah, he really needed to sit down.

Tyson's tongue slipped between his shocked lips and ran a poisonous line down the roof of his mouth. A sound erupted in the back of Tyson's throat, kind of like after tasting something really good. It was some long forgotten candy or chocolate, maybe from Hallowe'en. The thought of Kai trick or treating made him grin into the kiss. It was all about the tricks.

His hand went to the back of Kai's dark hair, pulling down until the blader was forced to lie back. It was weird, his bed's covers had never felt so soft. The guitarist's other hand went to his cheek, holding his face almost tenderly while he stroked Kai's tongue with his own, licking deep inside.

Kai gasped for air, but Tyson just held him so that he kept his jaw open. The kiss was so deep Kai had no where to go and he was forced to invade the other's mouth as well. He gave a strangled moan; the blader could feel his blood begin to pound everywhere at once and his simple t-shirt felt like an oven. Tyson's knees on either side of his thighs were an unthinkable presence. The younger teen sucked very slowly, both hands going to grip the bed sheets on either side of Kai's head.

Oh that was it.

The dual-haired teen gripped Tyson's waist tightly and rolled them over. Breaking the kiss, he slammed Tyson as hard as he could to the bed.

Stunned, Tyson could only blink rapidly, out of breath, as Kai grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him up. He was nearly choked by his own collar because Kai pulled him so hard across the room and through the hallway.

"Hey—Kai! Stop!" Tyson's voice was hoarse from the kiss, and it served to make Kai angrier than ever. He propelled the other boy down the stairway, the only thing keeping him from falling and breaking his neck was Kai's steel-like grip.

"What's the matter with you?! Let me go!" Tyson yelled and was thrown against the front door. He held his shoulder in pain. "What the hell, Kai…"

And Kai was in his face, nailing him to the door with his hard grip and the murderous look in his eyes.

"Good. Bye." He spat, and Tyson was literally thrown out.

The next day, Kai didn't go to school. But that was because it was a Saturday.


Tyson sat around feeling very sick for most of the morning while he crunched on his cereal and watched his cartoons.

"Why, T-man! You're up early." Grandpa Granger was happily surprised. Tyson had said he was going over to a friend's house again. He'd been doing it for a while now. The elder man put his bokken on the kitchen counter, scheming to see if he could sucker his grandson into some kendo practice.

"Went to bed early," Tyson garbled around his cocoa puffs. He sniffed.

"Thought you had a dateroo." Gramps jeered cheerfully. Oh how he missed poking fun in youngins' lives! He popped a piece of bread in the toaster.

Tyson managed to tear his eyes away from the TV at that. His gramps probably wouldn't like details. "It ended early."

"That's good to hear." The older man laughed good-naturedly. "In fact, that's great! No need for you to go around corrupting any of the nice girls here in Bay City."

The teen snorted.

"Don't knock it!" Gramps lectured, giving him a warning eye. "A sweet girl is what you need to help you settle down. Sure, you gotta party hard since you're a rock star and all," He said thoughtfully, "but ya gotta have discipline too!"

"Isn't that what kendo's for?" Tyson replied lazily. "Don't need a girl for that."

"Kendo's right!" Gramps yelled with conviction. "So how about we hit the dojo!"

"Uuuuh," the thought of doing the exercise right after he'd eaten two bowls of cereal and lazed around didn't seem appealing at all. "Maybe later… I gotta go." He jumped up, dusting crumbs off his shirt.

The old man eyed him suspiciously. "Where? You're still in your jammies!" They were a too-large for him baggy sweatshirt that said BBA and his boxers but Tyson didn't correct him.

"Yeah, I, uh" He scratched the back of his neck, "have to go out and get the band together for practice."

In all honesty, he did have to gather the guys, but he also had a major bruise on his shoulder from where Kai had manhandled him thoroughly. Not to mention a serious case of the sniffles because Kai had made him ride back home without his winter clothes even after he had banged on the door forever.

"Hey, T-man, your birthday is coming up fast! We should start planning that right?" The old man raved, a jolly gleam in his eyes.

That's right, he wondered if Kai would still come. He wondered if Kai would still help with the band. Suddenly feeling a great amount of conviction, Tyson started changing in the hallway, in a rush to get band practice underway.

"Give me a name list," His gramps said from the other room. "I can have that one dude down at the bingo make awesome invites!"


Great, he'd come all this way and not one person was answering the door. Kai's house was huge, he found it hard to believe it was always as empty as it seemed when he'd visited. He rang it again. It was already late and he was dead tired from running errands that he'd put off for way too long. Turned out Max was busy and Ray had been no where to be found, so he had given up on practice and instead had gone to the mall to escape going back home and be forced to finish his homework.

The doorbell went unanswered.

Tyson groaned and scuffed his foot on the doormat before hopping off the porch stairs. He walked along the sidewalk wishing he'd brought his mp3 player or something.

'Guess he really does hate me,' Tyson frowned in confusion. The streetlights pretended they were stars, the only points of light in the darkness of the night.

It was cold, and Tyson pulled his new coat and hat tighter around himself.

He could have sworn he hadn't been wrong about Kai though. But that wasn't the same as being right.


"Hilary, do a guy a favour?" Tyson pleaded. He batted his eyelashes for effect. The classroom was hardly the place for charming someone but desperate times called for desperate measures.

The girl turned with a strict frown. "NO, Tyson. Didn't anyone teach you to do your own homework?"

Tyson slumped and buried his face in the top of his desk. "Aaargh…."

"Serves you right." Her prim attitude made Tyson stick his tongue out at her when she had turned back around.

Max smiled in sympathy. "Why didn't you finish?"

The baseball capped teen rolled his head to look at Max and sighed. "Didn't feel like it."

The blonde frowned at that, his hand mindlessly tapping the drumstick against his orange binder. "That's not a very good excuse, ya know."

"Fine," Tyson twisted up his mouth. "If you must know, I was at Kai's last night."

Hilary whipped around at that, the girl she sat next to doing the same. In fact, the little circle of people that managed to hear his admission were all staring at him. Their ears became glued for details.

"You were where?" One of the girls all but screamed.

Tyson looked at them with comically big eyes. He burst out laughing. "What's the big deal? He didn't even open the door."

"I thought he told you flat out no about being in the band." Max said helplessly. Why didn't the new kid listen when he said not to push the resident bad guy?

"It wasn't anything about the band."

That threw his little audience for a loop, but before they could question him on it their timid English teacher walked in. They listened to her introduce an essay and the components of how to write one for a mind numbing forty minutes before she handed out some papers.

"Okay, work with a partner to pick out the thesis and arguments of this essay." Mrs. Staccato said cheerfully. "Don't worry, it's short!" Yeah, it was ten pages, that was short alright.

Max handed a worksheet to his desk mate but was alarmed and disappointed to see him looking straight at Kai and another guy named Billy, who'd walked in with forms of some kind. Maybe they were university forms or something, who knew what the grade 12s did.

Tyson couldn't believe his luck, and whistled. "Hey Kai!"

At the call, the tall teen whipped his head around, a fierce expression on his face.

Tyson gave him a lopsided smile and waved. Kai's baleful attention on him, the blue haired teen puckered up and blew him a kiss with a loud smack.

Kai became an ugly shade of red and he slammed his form down so loudly that those who weren't staring at their little exchange looked his way, silent in fear.

He glared and knocked Billy out of the way with his shoulder and was out the heavy metal door without a sound.

The teacher was shiftily looking anywhere but the door. It was obvious she was afraid of Kai and his punk reputation.

Tyson looked unhappy but not shocked when he said to Max, "partners?"

The blond nodded wearily, and they got to work.

After they'd all presented their findings, Mrs. Staccato resumed the lesson. No one was brave or dumb enough to start mentioning the Hiwatari Mystery, and Tyson got detention for not doing his homework.


"Tyson did you do something to Kai?" The tone was carefree but Max had a stern look on his face like he was trying to get to the bottom of a mystery. He'd just come back from class half so maybe the sourpuss mystery had talked?

"What?!" Tyson clammed up immediately then smiled to cover it up. "I mean… er.."

"You did! I knew it!" Max shook a drumstick at him. "C'mon, spill. Why are you bothering him?"

"Shouldn't you be asking the opposite…?" The guitarist mumbled to himself. He slammed his locker close.

"What was that?" Max asked and didn't bother to wait for a reply. "Listen Tyson," They walked along the lockers and out the side doors to the bike rack. "Don't keep asking him to join the band. That's just gonna push him farther and farther away."

Tyson pursed his lips, not wanting to look at the blond he sat on the ground and took his sweet time to undo his bike lock.

"I know you want to be friends, or something, with him, but pestering him whenever you see him isn't gonna help the problem."

"Whatever." Tyson blew out a breath.

"Seriously!" The other teen said. He shook his blond head a little with a fond smile creeping up his mouth. "I'm meeting Hil at the bus stop, I'm gonna be her guinea pig for her new debate topic." He turned a little pale, his freckles standing out starkly.

"It's about vegetarians and meat-is-murder. I'm afraid by the end of it I won't be able to eat meat ever again. And I have to eat meat Tyson." He said more urgently as the guitarist stood up and brushed off the dirt from his jean-clad knees. One of them was torn.

"Ray made me a beef burger at the restaurant yesterday, and it was too good to give up!" Max finished and Tyson blinked.

"So that's where you two were! I came by your place you know!!" He told the drummer.

Max looked sheepish. "Yeah well, where were YOU? At Kai's."

Tyson cut his eyes to the side, and then laughed, pushing the drummer in the other direction.

"Have fun on your house date with Hilary then."

Max scowled but then brushed it off with a chuckle, walking backwards. "Do me a favour, don't look behind you!"

But Tyson did and there was Kai, trudging along the school fence that separated the sports field and the parking lot. He looked back over his shoulder and Max was long gone, he should've known the blond was too good-natured to stop the hunt. He locked his bike back up.

Stalking time.


"Tyson," Kai turned fiercely, a sharp look in his eye. The persistent teen had to backpedal to avoid smashing straight into him. Of course, Tyson never claimed to have been the best stalker.

"Yeees?" He adjusted his hold on his backpack and Kai leaned in further, obviously feeling the extreme need to intimidate. Tyson's eyebrows rose as he leaned against the chain-link fence behind him. He wondered if he could pull that Snickers out of Kai's pocket without getting beaten up for it. Didn't look like he was going anywhere for a while.

"Why don't you just save yourself the trouble and: Tell. Me. What. You. Want." The words were spit so forcibly Tyson couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Hey, say it- don't spray it!"

If Kai's eyes weren't naturally that reddish colour it would have been a sure sign that he was ready for carnage. All the wannabe rock star had to go on, however, was the pissed off tick in the other teen's eyebrows. In fact… He squinted, imagining that those two offending brows were angry beavers gnawing at the huge crease between them.

"I mean it Tyson." The eyebrows said to him and Tyson grinned cockily.

"I'm coming over again, don't you wanna Beyblade?"

At the mention of his hobby, Kai seemed to become even more agitated than before (if that was possible) and he ran a hand through those grayish bangs of his.

"No."

"You sure?"

The tilt of Tyson's head, and the way his eyes shone with that stupid attitude made Kai's beavers scream 'timber!' as his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Don't."

"Don't what?" He replied. Kai was way too high strung today. Sure the Biology test had been bad, but Kai didn't take Biology, so he had absolutely no reason to be messed up. Tyson quirked his mouth, tasting the sourness of the big F he knew was coming his way.

The dual-haired blader didn't answer, he just glared the hell out of his… Well, who knew what to call Tyson.

"Afraid I'll beat you again?" Tyson hedged on, matching the stare. He blindly reached for that chocolate bar.

Kai caught his wrist, held it tightly, and looked almost startled to be doing so. He looked back up and his face was unreadable. "You can't hold a candle to me."

"Sure I could," he grinned madly, wiggling his fingers on the hand Kai's Jaws of Life managed to capture. "If I had a candle and my hand back, yeah."

"Be serious." Kai hissed, and gripped the wrist even tighter, pushing it into the fence hard. Tyson winced and dug his worn down sneaker into the gravelly dirt. Was this about..? Nah, surely Kai wasn't this messed up over…

This was getting painful, and Kai's face all up in his was a pain too, so Tyson relented.

"I'm sorry."

The apology threw Kai for a loop and he looked momentarily derailed from his insanity track.

"I didn't know you'd never been kissed before. Next time I'll do it better," Tyson's face was so smug that, somewhere, Hilary felt a crawl go down her back and had the need to bitch for no apparent reason. He lifted his eyebrows to look sincere.

"I promise."

The look on Kai's face was priceless.

"You-" He stopped, furious. His mouth was moving but the anger had seemed to plug his throat.

Hey, the guitarist figured that he'd screwed up with Kai so badly might as well go the full nine yards.

"Wanna go at it now?" He puckered up and made a loud smacking sound so close to Kai that he almost got him on the nose.

Kai flinched and his eyes looked like they'd pop. He let go of Tyson's wrist and grabbed the front of his sweater, slamming him into the fence with an enormous rattle.

His voice was alarmingly quiet when he spoke. "You know, for a moment I thought you really were different. But now, it's so obvious. You're the king of them all." His nostrils flared. "I'm not your servant, I won't play to you."

Tyson swallowed carefully. It was hard when there were two fists clamping down on the front of his shirt but he did his best.

Seeing that the shorter teen wasn't going to open his obnoxious mouth, Kai dropped him and turned immediately, stalking away with clenched fists. When it was kings versus kings, it usually meant war.

The baseball-capped teen let his bag slip off his shoulder and slumped against the fence. He exhaled slowly once Kai had rounded the corner, then swung around and punched the fence with a loud growl of anger. The fence reverberated at the attack, rattling in its weak links. Tyson punched it again, satisfied to see it sway and generally cause a huge racket.

There was one thing true about Tyson Granger. He never did anything half-heartedly.

But he also never gave up.


End Track

Author's Notes: Sorry this chapter took so long! The next will take a while too because they are getting a bit more complicated and I've got essays to write too! Still, reviews will make me go a bit faster. :D

Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me.