Warnings: See chapter one, please. Additional warnings for this chapter:

xXx xXx xXx

The warm, early spring sun rose over Paris. Kai sat on the window seat and watched it come up. He had already been sitting there for hours. He wished for a cigarette, even though he didn't smoke. But the wrapped sticks of tobacco always seemed to calm people's nerves. And he needed something relaxing - he was tensed like a steel spring. He had thought about taking a dose of his Zopiclone(1), but had decided against it. They did knock him out completely for at least a few hours, but the side effects were really nasty. The headaches, dizziness, memory losses and the tingling in his arms and legs he could endure. But the hallucinations and the nightmares were absolute hell. The head doctor at the BBA had prescribed it to him after they had tried several other pills to fight his insomnia, all of them proving useless. He could go days without sleeping more than an hour or so. That was the real reason why he was always up at the crack of dawn. When he slept, he was haunted by memories, flash backs from the Abbey, and horrid nightmares that would have him wake up in panic and anguish, covered in sweat and his heart beating like a sledge hammer in his chest for hours afterwards. The doctor had strictly ordered him to take them only when he had to, and not make a habit out of it. They were very addictive, and he wasn't allowed to drive because of them. And his team didn't even know he took them. Or that he had gotten a diagnosis for his symptoms. PTSD, the doctor had called it. Kai would never admit to it, he didn't want them to see that weakness. Yes, he considered it a weakness. Mr. Dickinson knew, of course (he knew everything), but no one else was to ever find out about it.

His eyes burned from the lack of sleep and a headache was developing fast. Despite that, he had his Ipod on, trying to concentrate on the music, and not his thoughts. That was proving to be difficult. A certain redhead occupied his mind, and feelings were stirring in him. Feelings that he had denied and kept locked away for a long time. But now, when the wolf was so close and not a memory from his past, the feelings had come back to slap him in the face. The incident with the hickey two nights before, was most likely the cause of it. It had taken on a wonderful blueish green and yellow tone now, but it looked more like someone had tried to strangle him, than the result of Tala's mouth assaulting his neck. His hand moved to the spot and he frowned. If only he could remember what the fuck happened! He didn't dislike the idea of Tala kissing him quite as much as he let on. As he thought about it now, his body heated and his heart skipped a beat. The wanting to just pull the stunning redhead in to his arms and be ravished by those soft lips was almost overwhelming, and it scared him. He was terrified by the fact that his knees went all wobbly when Tala smiled at him, and the way his heart warmed up to a fiery heat when he laughed. And it also terrified him that Tala had been hanging around his neck the previous day, his warm body so close to him that he could have just put his arms around him and hid his face in that toned chest forever. But he didn't. The other Demolition Boyz had been present, for one, and he really didn't think that Tala would like it very much. The older teen had always treated Kai like something of a little brother, a close friend. Nothing more. Kai knew Tala was into guys, that wasn't really a secret, but he thought the redhead's type to be something quite different from himself. Tala would never be his, it was as simple as that. He closed his weary eyes and listened to the song that was currently playing. It was one of his favorite songs, one he wished he could play. But he was about as musical as a common radish, so he had long since given up on it. He crooned quietly along to it, his voice softer than anyone would had ever guessed it could be.

"And I'd give up forever to touch you

'Cause I know that you feel me somehow

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be

And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment

And all I can breathe is your life

and sooner or later it's over

I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies

When everything feels like the movies

Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive..."

He fought back the salty liquid forming in his eyes. Kai Hiwatari never cried. Ever. Crying meant you were weak. He wasn't weak. He was just tired, that's all. A sound came from one of the beds, and he turned his head to see what caused it. It turned out to be Tyson, talking in his sleep - again. The 'conversation' didn't make much sense, but then again Tyson's sleep-talking never did. Kai had heard all kinds of weird things from the heavy sleeper in the bed farthest away from the window. The others moved slightly in their sleep, breathing calm and peacefully. The headache had started to throb mercilessly, and he shut the mp3 player off and went to search his bag for some Tylenol(2). He was not in the mood for a migraine attack at the moment. The attacks could last for a few hours or two days, he never knew in advance. And it scared the hell out of his team every time, their questions and attempts to help only added to his suffering. He took the required dose and laid down on his bed. He had to at least try to get some sleep. Mission impossible; it would take hours, if he did at all. And the clock beside the bed already said eight fifteen, which meant that the rest of his team (the exception being Tyson, as always) would wake up within an hour. He sighed and went into the bathroom, splashing ice cold water in his face to help ease the headache and the burning sensation in his eyes. With swift movements he applied the signature blue face paint. He hardly even had to look to get the triangles perfect. After scribbling a short note to his team about where he was, he left the room to head down for breakfast. In Kai's case that meant coffee. Strong coffee, and lots of it.

xXx xXx xXx

Tala was twisting and turning in his bed, unable to sleep. His head was occupied with Kai, and the wonderful sensation of his own arms around the phoenix's strong neck. He had gone a bit overboard with his thankfulness, he knew it. The bluenette's elbow in his stomach had made that perfectly clear. Tala broke Kai's no 1 rule; don't touch. But he decided it was worth it to feel the warm body so close to him. It was probably the only way for him to get to touch his love. Yes, his love. Tala had spent the entire last night in Moscow straightening out his feelings for the younger teen. He had always had a soft spot for Kai, always thought him to be the most beautiful thing on the planet. He had always had the desire to get close to him, to have him all to himself. But he had never included the word 'love' in the matter before. But there was no other word he could use without lying to himself. How could he have been so blind? All those years they'd spent together, the feelings had been there, but he had paid no heed to them, and then Kai had left. Tala had since then tried to find a new object of desire, but it was futile. Kai was glued to his mind, to his heart. And now they were together again, free from the Abbey and with the world open to them. But now Tala Ivanov was scared. His feelings kept growing by the day, and he was afraid that he would reveal them unintentionally and thereby losing his best friend. But at the same time he had to reveal them at some point. He had to risk it. Because he couldn't endure being this close to his elusive phoenix without being able to tell him that he was everything to him. That he wanted to be with him forever, that he would do anything to make him happy. And that could prove really hard to do. Tala had not been brought up to handle any emotion besides maybe malice and anger. And despite the fact that Kai always listened to him when he needed it, this was a big deal. He had to tell Kai – the walking block of ice, who always kept a six feet distance to everyone – that he was in love with him. Yeah, that would be a walk in the park. Or not. And he couldn't really ask the other guys for help, they knew about as much about love as a fish knew about the desert. And they would probably laugh at him for being soft and girly.

A sound came from the bed next to his, and a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head and – much to his surprise - found Bryan standing there. The concerned look seemed rather misplaced in the teen's usually intimidating face.

"What's going on, Tal?" he asked. "You've been tossing and turning for hours. It's kinda hard to sleep here."

Tala sighed.

"I've just... got a lot on my mind, Bry."

"Uh-huh," the falcon nodded. "Mind telling me what it is?"

Tala looked away. Bryan arched a brow and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"It's about Kai, isn't it?" he asked.

Tala's eyes went wide, and Bryan nodded grimly.

"You like him, don't you?"

The wolf nodded, still not looking at his lavender-haired friend. Bryan sighed.

"Figured. So, what're you gonna do about it?"

"I don't know."

"Tell him, maybe?"

"Yeah, right. Might as well dig my own shitting grave then."

"Come on, Tal. Snap the fuck out of it. You gotta tell him at some point, you know. Just get it over with."

"Shut up, Bry. This is Kai we're talking about. Not some silly freaking fan girl."

"Fine, be like that then. But do it somewhere else, would ya? I really wanna sleep for a bit longer."

He went back to his bed. Tala pulled the covers tighter around him and felt like shit. He closed his eyes and was determined not to get out of bed for at least an hour.

xXx xXx xXx

They met up with Oliver outside the Louvre, only half an hour late. Tyson had been so captivated by the mind-blowing size of the breakfast buffet, that they had finally decided to take drastic measures to get him away from there. The drastic measures was in this case named Spencer. He had simply grabbed Tyson by the back of his shirt and carried him out of the dining hall. The world champ had protested and whined for three blocks. Kenny was thrilled to finally see the Louvre from the inside. Oliver had promised a tour of the vast building and the tech freak was already babbling about all the wonders in there. Max and Rei listened to him with amused smiles. Tyson hung like a puppet from Spencer's grip, trying to get the large Russian to put him down. Bryan and Ian were admiring the female Parisians walking by, comparing them in their native tongue. Tala walked a few steps in front of them, occasionally admonishing them for being crude and disrespectful to such beauty. Kai lead the way, silent as always.

Oliver stood by the main entrance when they arrived, smiling brightly. The two teams stopped and greeted him.

"Hello, guys!" Oliver said. "What kept you? I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost."

Kai snorted. Rei smiled at the French boy with a look of apology.

"We had a hard time getting Tyson to stop eating," he said. "Sorry we kept you waiting."

Oliver laughed and looked at the navy-haired teen, still being held by Spencer.

"I remember his appetite, so I won't hold it against you. Come now, this is a big place to go through."

Kenny bounced up and down in enthusiasm, and immediately followed when Oliver turned and walked towards the doors. The other Bladebreakers smiled and shook their heads as they joined them. Tala picked up the pace and caught up with the French blader to get a good guiding. Kai, Bryan, Ian and Spencer stayed in the lobby, however. Kai had been in there before, and he was too tired to walk through all those rooms today. And the other three Russian teens weren't really that into art. They took seats on two benches that were placed in a corner, half facing each other, and watched the tourists pass by in to the depths of the immense building. Kai rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his temples with a slightly irritated look.

"What's up, Kai?" Ian asked and poked him on the shoulder. "Hungover again, or something?"

"Looking after you guys, makes me wonder when the hell I could possibly have time to get drunk in the first place, Ian," the bluenette said without looking up.

"Ok. So what is it then?"

"Nothing."

Now Bryan joined the conversation.

"Come on, Kai," he reasoned. "Those morons on your team might not see it, but we do. Somethin's bothering you."

"I'm fine. I just got a headache, ok?"

"You still get the migraines, ey?" Spencer asked. The younger teen nodded, and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"You got any pills for it?" Ian asked.

"I took some Tylenol around – I don't know - eight or something."

"It's eleven thirty now, idiot," the shorter teen said. "You should take another round, or we'll have to carry you out of here."

"You do have some with you, right?" Bryan inquired.

"Hn." He took a small plastic box out of his pocket and took out two pills. He threw them into his mouth and swallowed them without blinking. He shuddered as he felt them go down his throat. Ian looked at him with an arched brow.

"You know you take too many pills when you can swallow them without water," he stated.

"Aw, shut it," Kai snarled. "It's not like I'm a freaking addict here."

"Uh-huh," Bryan snorted. "Then what are those Zopi-something pills you had in your bag?"

"And just when did you go through my bag?"

"In Moscow, you twerp. After the shower. Remember? You told us to get clothes in your bag."

"Aw, hell," the phoenix sighed.

"Still waiting here, little brother," Spencer said.

"They're just some sleeping pills I take when I get too tired," he said dismissively. "Nothing special."

"And you can handle them?" Ian asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" he snapped back. "I know what you're thinking about, but a lot of things has changed since then, ok?"

"And your team? Do they know?"

"Know what? That I hardly ever manage to sleep? That I have nightmares that makes hell seem like a holiday resort? No. I don't want them to know."

"Ok, we'll trust you on that. But you had us kinda worried there for a while," Bryan said.

"Don't be. I've got it under control."

xXx xXx xXx

"Oliver, how long have we been walking?" Max mewled. "My feet are killing me!"

The green-haired teen laughed and checked his watch.

"We've been in here for about three hours."

"Three hours?" Tyson, Rei and Max shouted in surprise.

"How big is this place?" Rei asked.

"A lot bigger than one thinks," Oliver replied. "One can walk around here for days and still find new things. We're taking the short tour."

Kenny resembled Max during a serious sugar-high, bouncing around and trying to look at as many things as possible. Every now and then they heard a 'Whoa!' coming from him. Tala was in much the same state, moving like a fiery wind from artwork to artwork and giving small squeaks of joy every other second. The Bladebreakers had been surprised to see this side of him. But then again they were surprised to see any new side of him. He babbled on about his favorite pieces to Oliver, who smiled and gave him tips about other similar works. Finally they reached the exit, their heads spinning from all the impressions, and found the other four guys sitting in the lobby, looking bored.

"That only took like forever," Ian said. "What did you do? Take a walk around the whole town?"

"The Louvre is a rather big place, Ian," Tala said matter-of-factly. "It'd probably take you a week to walk through it, shorty."

"Who're you calling shorty, you carrot coloured bitch?" Ian growled. "I can knock you out in a heartbeat, you freaking diva!"

"You are short. Perhaps a pair of stilts would help you get a better perspective."

The serpent blader roared and lunged at him, trying to land one of his fists in Tala's face. But his hand was caught in mid air, and held firmly by the bluenette next to him.

"Stop bitching," Kai demanded. "For fucks sake, you're acting like kids in a freaking sandbox or something."

"Yeah, Ian, behave," Tala said.

"Tala," Kai said, in a treacherously calm tone. "You're being extremely immature. Stop it."

Oliver laughed at the scene.

"They are quite... unruly, your friends, aren't they?" he said to Kai.

"What was your first clue?"

"Are they always like this?"

"No. Sometimes they're worse."

The French blader laughed again, and led them out of the giant museum to find other sights.

xXx xXx xXx

Oliver had of course been disappointed when the Russians declined his offer to go beyblading in a lush park. But they couldn't risk it. Every kid in Europe knew who the Demolition Boyz were, and there would be no faster way of providing Boris with a trail than to battle someone in the open. So he took them instead to a paint ball park in central Paris, to satisfy some of the Russian teens' need for physical activities. Tala might be a huge fan of culture, but his teammates certainly wasn't. So he mentioned this activity, and they had all decided to go there. The Bladebreakers seemed quite excited too.

They got to the park and got their equipment and a quick briefing on how to use them. The Bladebreakers felt kind of lost in their protective clothing and with the strange guns in their hands. The five Russian teens however held theirs with a look of having done it before. With Oliver, they were ten people. A good number for splitting up into two teams.

In the first team there was Kai, Rei, Bryan, Ian and Kenny. The second team consisted of Tyson, Max, Spencer, Tala and a reluctant Oliver (who looked even more lost with the marker in his hands than the rest of them). The plan was to take stand at the two ends of the area and then try to get the whole team over to the other side, and shooting as many of the other team down as possible in the process. They did so, and after a countdown, the war was on. Curses and insults, cries of horror and joy filled the air. It was a close battle, since the ones who actually knew how to shoot were split equally between the teams. Kenny was the first one to be taken out, by Spencer, who shot him right in the back. Next one to go was Tyson. Ian was as good a shooter as his teammate. It developed into a complete deadlock when there was finally only four fighters left. Kai had his marker pointed at Tala's head, Spencer had his aimed at Kai. Bryan pointed his at Spencer and Tala had a clean shot at Bryan's chest.

"Don't move a single inch, Tala," Kai said. "Or you'll have a lovely green shade to that carrot coloured hair of yours."

"Carrot coloured?" Tala yelled. "You are so dead, birdie boy!" He moved to shoot Kai instead of Bryan, and thereby broke the deadlock. Kai has anticipated that move, if not even provoked it, and fired the bullet of green paint straight in Tala's masked face. He then threw himself flat on the ground and rolled out of the way of Spencer's purple coloured balls. Bryan quickly came to his aid and fired repeated rounds at Spencer's chest and head. The dirty blonde cursed both of them to hell and beyond as they quickly ran to the other team's base and claimed themselves the winners.

"All right!" Ian exclaimed. "The losers pay for ice creams, remember?"

"He tricked me!" Tala said loudly and pointed an accusing finger at Kai's grinning face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Tala," he said. "I wasn't the one who decided to break the deadlock because of one little tease."

"You're such a jerk, Kai."

"I know."

He patted the redhead on the shoulder.

"Come on guys," he said. "I believe Oliver's team owes us ice cream."

Laughing, the ten youngsters headed back to the lively streets of Paris.

Xxx xXx xxX

Zopiclone is a heavily restricted medication, used to treat severe insomnia. It has a range of rather nasty side effects, but it tend to knock you flat out when you take them (Believe me!). Which is, of course, pretty much what it's supposed to do.

Tylenol is a paracetamol based pain killer.

PTSD is short for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So what did Kai mean with "I know what you're thinking about, but a lot of things has changed since then!" ? Stay tuned to find out.

(And Tala and Ian's little dispute was just so cute. They're like a couple of kids, aren't they? For being the youngest of them, Kai sure has to be the big brother a lot.)

(( And Oliver with a paint ball gun is so... damn funny!))

The lyrics comes from a great song by great band. It's "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls.