Okay guys, please read and review my story a bit more, as in give me some criticism, tell me you like it or not and if there is something blatantly wrong with my story. please please please. As a writer i thrive on reviews. Oh and sorry to anyone who had been waiting for a new chapter for a long time now

Chapter 10

When Kai got back to the dojo, the others couldn't help but notice that his temper had flared up more so then usual. Tyson suggested that it was because he didn't like being dragged to the hospital and was really bored during the entire time. The others agreed and thought it was best to stay out of his way. Kai's real reasons were something he could never tell them, so he pretended that his team was right in their theory. He thought it would be better for everyone if he just turned in early for the night. The boy quickly had dinner and before anyone could talk to him had laid down on his futon and pretended to be asleep.

He had to pretend because he couldn't really sleep. His thoughts were clouded over with images of a certain young brunette. All the others fell asleep but still Kai didn't. He kept going over the conversation he had had with Dranzer earlier in the day; thankfully the phoenix never actually said anything this time around.

Dranzer had said he was just in denial about the fact that he liked the girl. Well he didn't dislike her. He didn't hate her or anything; he was just on friendly terms with her, like he was with his team mates. Dranzer was only teasing him because this time around it was a girl. But then Hillary was a girl and he never even considered her like that…

No! Kai argued with himself; she was kind of different from Hillary. He considered Alex to be like his other team mates because she was passionate about football like they were about beyblade. He smiled slightly as he remembered the expression on her face when he had seen her during the match on that fateful day. It had resembled a certain other person he knew. Kai raised his head slightly to look at form of Tyson under his blanket, past his feet. Looking around he saw that everyone else was asleep as well. Silently he got out of his futon and exited the dojo.

The yard was bathed in moonlight. Kai climbed up to the roof quickly and with ease and lay down. There was a half moon on the sky and a slight breeze played about the strands of hair on his forehead. Everything was silent, just as Kai could have wished for it to be. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. It worked for a minute and then suddenly he was filled with a desire for her to be stretched out beside him and enjoying the silence of the night as well. He could almost picture her, lying with her hands underneath her arm, grey eyes reflecting the moon, the bangs on her face being slightly ruffled and a small smile on her lips.

Kai sighed and closed his eyes. There was something seriously wrong with him.

He didn't know when he finally drifted off to sleep, but he was woken up by the sound of Granpa' practicing kendo. He was still lying on the roof and it would be hard to explain if the others found him. He entered the room the boys occupied just as Ray was getting out of bed. Regardless to say he looked surprised to see his former team captain entering the dojo in his pyjamas. He was obviously wondering where he had gone in black shorts and t-shirt; he had never seen Kai go anywhere like that before. Obviously Ray decided to ignore it since he knew that Kai wouldn't answer his question anyways.

It was Wednesday morning and besides Ray and Kai, the others had school. The two boys left behind didn't usually stay together that time. Although Kai's friendship with Ray was strong, the former used the period as some alone time. Truth be told Ray thought that Kai was going to his private tutors to learn, not wandering the streets aimlessly.

Kai wondered what he would do today. All he knew that he had to keep himself occupied enough to not think about Alex. He was determined to drive her out of his head. And nothing drove everything else from his mind better than beyblading. The solution was so easy it almost felt like a trap. But it wasn't like he had any other choice, so Kai headed for the park, where he would remain undisturbed for the better part of the morning.

Half an hour later, Kai was there, hiding from the sun under the shade of the trees. He took out his blade, launcher and rip cord and set himself in position. Taking a deep breath he launched the blade which instantly whizzed around the tree, climbing and spinning around.

"Go!" Kai ordered, and the blade left two burning slashes on the trunk of a tree; there was no point in killing the plant. His blade sailed over the ground and touched the ground strongly, sending up small pieces of rocks. Like lightning, the blade smashed the flying pebbles and sending gravel back down to earth. Even before all the dust cleared, the blade had bounced against trees and landed back into Kai's palm.

'Hn!' Kai grunted. This was nothing special, he had performed to a much higher standard before but it seemed stupid to waste his energy just like that. Plus he still couldn't concentrate. Why was that? Because he saw some men, probably in their early twenties, playing football, not far off. This brought back his confusing thoughts about Alex.

'It's no use,' Dranzer's voice brought the boy back to his senses, 'you are not fully focused and won't be until you set your heart at ease. I suggest you go visit the girl now. There will hardly be anyone around and you can talk to her properly. After that, then you may be content'

Kai was too agitated to notice Dranzer's hidden joke. 'Are you crazy? I just can't go meet her like that. I'll look like a complete idiot. I can't go see her the two days in a row, especially since I really didn't talk to her the first day.'

'Maybe she didn't notice'

Kai was slightly startled by this. Somehow he had never thought that she might have been too pre-occupied with the others to notice Kai's silence; it was usually only the two of them so Kai was usually more vocal with her. He wondered if she had wished he had talked to her as well.

'I'll go after a few days' Kai told Dranzer, 'give her a break from all the blade-breakers'

He thought he felt the phoenix shrug; it seemed like an okay decision. Then he mentally kicked himself again. He didn't usually question his own decisions. The only times he did was when it involved something life changing, like when he considered giving up beyblading. A stupid visit to some girl was not classified as life changing. At least not yet.

Still in his agitated mood Kai spent the entire day, trying to get some proper practicing done but his heart wasn't fully into it. When the whole team had got back together, they hardly failed to notice that Kai did not have his usually maintained cool demeanour. This was a cause of concern for them but none of them seemed sure of how to check with Kai. He would most probably just snap at them or something.

Max was the one who decided to ask Kai in the end. The older boy was sitting on the porch outside the dojo when the blonde went up to him. Max looked at Kai apprehensively for a second, then sat down next to the boy. Kai looked at him questioningly.

"You know, we're kind of used to you being cold and distant to us most of the time" Max began cautiously, "but that doesn't mean we don't notice it when you seem bothered."

Kai was surprised and annoyed. He did not realize that his agitation was showing. He looked straight into Max's eyes and said, "Not bothered anymore than usual, for which you can blame Daichi and Tyson"

"You seemed distant today, and not like you are every other day. For goodness sake you didn't even notice that you took half an hour to finish your lunch, and it was only a bowl of rice."

"Did it ever occur to you that I may not be hungry today?"

"As far as I've seen, you are never hungry, yet you never take this long to finish your meal," Max stood up as he said that, "whatever's bothering you seems to be doing a swell job of it. Just remember that we will be there to help you if you need it"

The blonde turned around and went back inside the dojo, with Kai frowning slightly at him. He appreciated his team's worry but nevertheless it did not concern them so they should probably have stayed out of it. He was also pissed off that his agitation was being displayed to the world.

'The sooner I get this over with, the better' Kai thought to himself.

Thereby the day after the next, Alex received a most surprising guest. Since Kai had gone during school hours, there was nobody else there. Kai was relieved that even her mom wasn't there.

"Hi" he said uncertainly, entering her room.

She was sitting in her bed, reading a book. She looked up when she heard him and gave him a surprised smile. Clearly she had not been expecting him.

"Hey!" she answered, "I was not expecting you." Well she said it. "Sit down"

Kai slowly approached the chair near her bed. "You're here all alone?" he asked to confirm.

"Yeah. My brothers are in school; dad's at work and mom has some things to take care of at home. She'll be back around lunch time. What brings you here?"

What did bring him here? "I thought you might want some company"

Alex smiled, "That's very sweet of you."

Kai thought he heard his heart pound madly against his ribcage. 'she called me sweet!' he thought. Then 'she obviously doesn't know me very well'

Since Kai had suddenly been preoccupied with his thoughts and sudden increase in blood pressure, there was an awkward silence in the room. He realized it s few seconds later. "Thank you" he said hastily.

Alex started at him amused for some time. "You know, you are not at all how I pictured you to be"

Kai was rather taken aback by this. "What?"

"I've seen you on the news a bunch of time. Like when you won the championship the first time. And last year, when you came second. You seemed like the stereotypical bad boy, not really caring for anyone else beside yourself-"

"Hang on! You said you weren't into beyblade that much"

"I watch the news. And besides, I'm hanging out with a sports celebrity. I shall do my research on him"

"Oh"

"As I was saying. You seemed more of jerk then an actual human being to me. But as it turns out you are a pretty decent guy"

"Thanks…I think" Alex laughed at his comment. "So as a decent guy I brought you something."

From his jacket pocket he took out a black mp4 player. "They didn't have red, so I went with black"

Alex was staring at player, and then she looked up at him, "Thank you! But I can't accept that"

"What? Why not?" Kai looked at her incredulously, "I thought you said yours was broken."

"It's not that. It's just…this is kind of an expensive gift."

"Well I'm rich and you don't have one. So I don't see a problem here."

Alex gave him a sarcastic smile. "I'm not taking it."

"Well I'm not either" Kai replied defiantly. Truth be told he was enjoying this little argument with her. It made him feel more normal again for some reason. "I guess I'll just throw it out then."

He stood up and walked over to the window. He was almost about to fling it outside when Alex yelped.

"Don't do that! You're going to hit someone!"

"Well this was not the use I was imagining that would be put into it, but what can I do" Kai smirked.

Alex glared at him for a second, then sighed. "Fine! I'll take it!"

Kai's smirk grew larger and he handed the device to her. "Think of it this way. If you don't like the music at the ball you can listen to something else if you have that."

As soon as he said it, Kai regretted his words. The girl had a broken leg, and he was making jokes about her going to a ball, an event which spent a large portion of time on dancing.

"Oh yeah the ball" Alex frowned slightly, "I'm not sure if I will be able to dance with my present condition."

Kai had sort of figured it out, but even so he felt something like his heart sinking at her words. She had practically said she was not going to the ball, and he couldn't blame her for it. And now that their little agreement was done for, there was little excuse for him to stay friends with the girl. He supposed he would better make his leave soon before it got awk-

"I suppose we'll just have to settle with sitting and socializing throughout the whole thing. Well you are going to socialize since I have little to do your circle."

Kai couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was still going to the ball with him?

"you still want to go?' he asked her skeptically.

Alex shrugged, "well yeah…I promised you I would go didn't I? Besides it's not like I'm in mortal danger or anything. I'm quite capable of going around, in a wheelchair, or a crutch on my own. It's not going to look very elegant but that's as much as I can think I can give you."

He was rather stunned by this. It was not something he had been expecting. "That's more than enough. I'm actually quite glad you are coming because now I can at least talk to someone normally."

Alex chuckled. "You really don't want to go do you?" Kai shook his head, at which Alex laughed even more.

"Did you decide on what you are going to wear?" he asked, "you remember I'm paying for it"

Alex hesitated. "Well…I did kind of look online…and there are lots of dresses to choose from…it's just that…" she trailed of and Kai looked at her questioningly.

"Just that what?"

"Just that…the cheaper dresses are ugly…and the good ones are expensive. I don't really have a large variety with the good ones but they are really pretty, but I guess that's why they are super expensive."

"How expensive?"

"Well…I'll show you." Alex lifted her laptop of the side table and opened it. Within minutes she had some online catalogue on, and Kai was looking at females after females wearing a multitude of gowns and dresses. He looked at some of the prices, but most of them seemed not that much. He pointed to a long blue dress with a semi-revealing v-neck. There was a slit from the hem of the dress, up till mid thigh.

"How about something like that" he asked.

Alex bit her lip at Kai's suggestion. "It's really sombre"

"Well how about that in red? You like red don't you?"

Still Alex seemed reluctant "uh…no. the dress is kind of revealing, and I don't like showing that much of my body so….yeah"

Kai remembered the dress she had worn to her school dance. Her skirt had been short, but she had worn leggings underneath. She had also worn a jacket on top. He didn't seem to remember a time when she had dressed in a…showy fashion.

"Oh…uh" he was not sure of how to reply to that. "You know what, forget about the price and just choose a dress you like. The price isn't all that much really so just go ahead and pick one"

"Well…if that's what you want" she seemed shy and hesitant still, "I do have this dress in mind so…"

"Great let's see it then"

Alex opened up another site but before she could click anything she asked Kai, "how about we keep the dress my little secret until the actual ball?"

Kai was slightly disconcerted by her sudden request but didn't see any harm in it. "Uh-sure!"

He moved away and as he did so realized that he had been leaning towards her and had been breathing in her scent. She had smelled of roses. This sudden realization made Kai blush ever so slightly, but Alex was too caught up in her laptop to notice. A lot of clicking later, Alex turned the screen towards him so he could see the price of the clothing item he was paying for, without actually seeing the tem himself. He a bit uncertain about buying something just like that but he decided to trust Alex. Still he had the delivery set for his residence, just so he could satisfy himself.

"Promise you won't look at it?" Alex asked him, "Although seeing as it's your money, you are entitled to do anything with it"

"Don't worry, I won't peek" Kai laughed slightly as he replied. Just then the door opened and a woman entered. Kai recognized her as Alex's mother. She smiled quizzically when she saw the tall grey-haired beyblader.

"I see you have a visitor" she said,"I can wait outside if you want me too"

"Relax, mom!" Alex rolled her eyes slightly, "but you do make everything slightly more awkward, especially for him I'm guessing" Kai smirked slightly at the girls' comment.

"Fine then." Her mom said, "I'll leave you two alone then to discuss your plans for world domination."

World domination. Kai was rather amused by the witty woman.

"Oh and by the way, I was up at your school and a boy told me to give this to you" Alex took the white box from her mother's hand, curiously.

"That's from Keith's dad's bakery." She murmured as the older woman left the room, reading the words on top, "I wonder what…"

Alex opened the box carefully and looked inside. Suddenly she drew her breath in sharply, and her cheeks turned red. Startled by this reaction, Kai moved a little forward to try to see inside. Since Alex didn't stop him, he figured that he could look inside. What he saw shocked him to say the least.

There were a bunch of cup cakes inside and each of them was covered in icing. The icing was delicate and it was prominent displaying the message it had been used to convey:

WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME? KEITH.

Kai looked back at the girl, who was still staring at the dessert, but smiling. Kai noticed that her smile seemed to brighten up her entire face; it was as if she was glowing. She seemed to have lost thought of her surrounding, so Kai cleared his throat loudly.

"So!" he said knowing full well how stupid he sounded. Alex turned around and faced him. She looked at him but Kai felt as if she was not really seeing him.

"He's the substitute keeper in your team isn't he?" he asked, remembering him from the match. This seemed to jolt the girl back to reality. Her blush deepened as she stuttered a reply "oh-um-ye-yeah!"

"And you like him, don't you?"

The question was more of a statement and Alex almost jumped when he said it.

"w-what?" she laughed nervously, "what makes you think that?" Kai looked at her skeptically, "yeah okay I do" Alex conceded.

"What do you like about him?" he asked the question in such a monotonous voice.

Alex was rather surprised by the query, but she answered anyways, "He's cute."

"You…go for the looks?"

"Not cute as in looks. I mean he is cute and good looking and all, but he's a really great guy as well. He's sweet and funny and he is always there to help me out. He has a really nice personality."

"Well, since you both seem to like each other, you should accept his invitation. It will be like your own fairy tale, because' in real life" Kai swallowed hard, "if the guy likes the girl, she may not necessarily like him back."

Alex grinned, averting her eyes away from the tall boy. "I think I will."

"Well, I guess I better be leaving now," Kai's words seemed quite sudden and out of the blue, "I hope you get well soon and I'll see you later."

He got up and was halfway out of the door before he heard her say "Bye."

Once again please R&R