Hey, I realised I hadn't updated for a couple of weeks so I thought I'd get this chapter up now!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters, nor any of its places either.

So, thank you for all the reviews and support I've had for this story so far, may you continue to review and support the rest!

Now, lets see how Tala has reacted to the relationship between Bryan and Kai. What will happen next?

Nothing more to say so go forth and read.

Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven: Double Minds

"How may I help you sirs and madam?" asked the receptionist of 'Golden Hotel'

"We're here to check in" replied Hilary pushing her way passed the boys to reach the desk.

"Certainly" the receptionist smiled "if you would just present your passports as a source of identification"

"Oh no" Ray murmured as a thought hit him.

"Problem?" asked Max.

"I haven't got my passport," answered Ray "it's the pocket of the jeans Tala took from me"

"Why does Tala have a pair of your jeans?" asked Kenny.

"Long story" said Ray as he set his bags down "keep these for me, I'm going back to get it. I won't be long"

"You knew?" Kai said not knowing quite what to feel.

"Yes," said Tala with a spark in his eyes "you didn't need to tell me for me to notice you were all over each other"

"I was planning to tell you" said Kai.

"When?" asked Tala "tomorrow? Next year? Last week? When were you going to tell me Kai?" he turned his gaze on Bryan "as for you, I thought you hated Kai"

"I do" replied Bryan who for the first time in his life feeling awkward and found himself unable to meet Tala in the eye.

"Well you've got a fucking funny way of showing it" Tala's eyes narrowed ever so slightly "all those times in the Abbey I had to stop you from beating the shit out of the Hiwatari boy! What about the time you were ready to kill him?"

"You're the one always telling me to let go of the past" muttered Bryan feeling annoyed that he should be the one feeling guilty.

"And what about Tony?" asked Tala "have you just forgotten about him?"

Bryan glared at him but it was too late, Kai had heard "who's Tony?" the phoenix asked softly.

Tala smirked "I'll tell you who Tony is-"

"Tala!" hissed Bryan.

"Tony is the closest thing Bryan ever got to a brother; Tony, like us, grew up in Abbey" Tala told Kai ignoring Bryan "he told Bryan to be nicer to you because it wasn't your fault you were the grandson of Voltaire, then on the day you decided to be stupid and steal Black Dranzer it was Tony who save you from being killed. He was injured in the process and died a few days later"

A silence greeted this as Kai's eyes widened; he looked at Bryan for some kind of reaction but all the falcon did was glare at Tala furiously. But the wolf seemed uninterested as he sneered back before sauntering out the room slamming the door behind him.

"Bryan say something," asked Kai quietly "is it true? Is that who Tony was?"

Bryan said nothing as he marched out the room and raked the foyer looking for Tala, he spotted the wolf climbing the stairs and taking three steps at a time he grabbed Tala and brought the wolf crashing to the ground.

"You fucking bastard!" snarled Bryan punching Tala.

Tala kicked back and wriggled out of Bryan's grasp "what about you?" he shouted back "you blamed me for years for favouring Kai! You said that I liked him better than I liked you! You hated me for choosing Kai for my tag teammate and not you! God knows how fucking long you've hated Kai Hiwatari! You dreamed of the day you could tell him about Tony! All those times I stopped you from beating the shit out of Kai!"

"I WAS A KID, IVANOV!" Bryan bellowed "kids get over things! I got over it!"

"Oh yeah you did that alright!" Tala half laughed, "so how long have you been fucking him, Kuznetsov? I bet it was when you were ordered by Voltaire to kill him! Bet Voltaire was real pleased with you in the end!"

"What's your problem Tala?" asked Bryan savagely "jealous because I'm screwing Kai and not you?"

This time Tala did laugh "you can screw him until the cows come home for all I care! Just don't expect me to be sympathetic when he gets bored of you!"

Bryan glared "you gonna tell me what you mean by that?"

"People get bored of you Bryan!" sneered Tala "Boris didn't even look at you after Kon beat you! Voltaire got bored of you when you kept beating up your trainers! As for Ray, even he got bored of telling the story of his greatest victory!"

Bryan punched him knocking Tala backwards, the wolf thumped to the floor holding his nose. Bryan looked down at Tala coldly; they had fought in the past, there wasn't one day that passed when they didn't have some kind of squabble but this, right now Bryan hated Tala. His fury surpassed any anger he'd felt before. As far as he was concerned Tala had just taken Kai away from him and he hated Tala for it. He pushed passed the wolf as Tala stood and crashed in to his room slamming the door hard.

Ray hopped out of his taxi and ran up the steps to the front doors of Hiwatari Manor; there was going to be no messing this time, Ray was taking back his beyblade and passport whether Tala liked it or not. The door opened and Bryan's favourite servant peered round the door, when he saw it was Ray he flung the door wide and threw his arms around Ray's neck.

"Wow if I knew I'd get this welcome I would have brought flowers" said Ray rather stupefied.

"I am so glad you're here!" spluttered the manservant "now I'm not supposed to tell you this and I'm going to get fired but here we go, master Kai was having an affair with master Bryan and now he's not"

Ray paused as the manservant hugged the neko-jin to his chest and sobbed empathically.

"Ok" said Ray pulled away before the man cried all over him "tell me very slowly what happened"

"Master Bryan and master Kai were in the sitting room about to…do their thing and-"

"Do their thing?" asked Ray blankly.

"You know, thing! What people do when they…" the manservant wafted his hand and looked embarrassed "when two people are together…it usually makes babies but only if there's a woman involved"

"Oh right" said Ray giving the guy a funny look "carry on"

"Anyway master Bryan and master Kai were about to do their thing but then master Tala walked in and now everyone is angry and upset! And master Kai isn't happy, not that he's ever happy or at least he doesn't show when he's happy because he doesn't smile and-"

"Whoa!" Ray held up his hand "ok I get it, where's Kai?"

"In the sitting room! Considering drowning his sorrows in a glass of water!" the manservant pointed dramatically at the closed door which Ray walked over to and with a soft knock opened carefully.

Kai sat on the sofa; he was in a place very black. Why had Bryan never told him? How could he have not known? He didn't even remember that day; it was a blur in his memory. He'd thought about it often but all he remembered was the dark lonely room he'd sat in for two days as punishment for his crime. He remembered failing to understand what crime he'd committed, he'd only wanted to see the Black Phoenix in all its glory.

Now he understood why Bryan had spent all those years hating him; he must have wanted Kai to burn for what he'd done. Kai hung his head; his sharp red eyes had lost their spark, he knew he could never face Bryan again knowing what he'd done to the falcon all those years ago. Even if Bryan had forgiven him now Kai couldn't forgive himself; because of him, because of his greed a person had died.

"Kai?" Ray's soft voice rang loudly through Kai's whirling mind but he didn't want to look at the tiger.

"Leave me alone Ray" Kai whispered.

Ray walked over to the hunched figure and knelt down in front of him looking up at Kai his huge golden eyes full of emotion "Kai, I want you to look at me" he whispered "just for a few moments and then I'll leave"

Kai didn't look at him; he couldn't look at him, Ray was so good and kind he wouldn't know what it was to harm another.

"Look at me" repeated Ray "please"

Kai turned his head when Ray moved in to his line of vision.

Ray sighed silently and looked up in to Kai's face "will you tell me what's happened?"

"No"

"Please Kai, I want to help"

"Just leave me alone"

"Are you sure?"

Kai only nodded and said nothing, Ray stood straight and looked down at the phoenix "whatever has happened Kai, it doesn't make you a bad person" when he didn't get an answer he turned away, knowing he wouldn't get anything out of Kai, and walked to the door "if you want to talk, just call" he added before closing the door softly.

Tala was in his room by the window when Ray knocked on the door and invited himself in.

"Get out" said Tala.

"Give me my stuff back" retorted Ray; he gave Tala a glare "no more games Tala, just give it back"

"Or you'll do what?" sneered Tala.

"Or I'll strip this place" Ray set his face in a frown.

"Go ahead, you won't find them" Tala watched as with a shrug Ray began to turn the room upside-down in search for his things. Ray looked in Tala's draws, he stripped the bed and looked there, he searched the wardrobes and in several boxes, he upturned Tala's bathroom. Tala watched this with a scornful amusement as Ray got more and more annoyed.

"You're not even close" taunted Tala as Ray rummaged under the bed.

"Then what have you done with them?" snapped Ray.

"Not saying" Tala smirked "you stay on and carry on looking, I have things to do"

He left the room and walked down the corridor.

He paused as a manservant knocked on Bryan's door; the door was opened and Tala caught a glimpse of Bryan's pale sharp features. Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, Bryan snarled venomously as the manservant entered the room and slammed the door in Tala's face shutting the falcon from view.

Tala continued down the corridor passing menservants who whispered to each other as he passed, he smashed a pot over the head of one to shut him up but he didn't really care what they thought. Heading down the stairs he stopped by the sitting room door feeling Kai's presence on the other side. He paused for a few moments with a thoughtful expression but then walked on out the Manor and started down the steps to the taxi that waited for Ray.

"You may go" ordered Tala as he went to the driver's side.

The driver looked confused "he said to wait for him, no matter how long it took"

"Mr Kon has decided to stay over night, something distressing happened to Mr Kai Hiwatari and Mr Kon wishes to stay with his friend" said Tala smoothly.

The driver shrugged "fine, let's me off the hook, but who's going to pay my fare?"

Tala brought out a wedge of notes "how much does he owe? I will pay for him"

The driver told him and Tala watched him drive away up the driveway. Once the taxi had turned out of Hiwatari Manor he himself continued up the driveway until he reached the main gates.

On reaching the main gates Tala turned left to where a large black car waited for him; scrambling in to the back seat Tala waited until the car had started up before speaking.

"It is dealt with"

"Kuznetsov and Hiwatari are no longer together?"

"No" replied Tala.

"Excellent" Boris gave a noise of disgust "men sleeping together, it sickens me"

Tala said nothing as the driver in the front turned a corner.

Boris smiled a malevolent smile "Voltaire was a foolish man to think he could control his grandson, he had no more control over Kai than he did of Kai's mother but I am different, Kai won't know where to hide and once Bryan has left the Manor Kai will alone and defenceless"

"Bryan is already packing," said Tala "it won't be long"

"Excellent" Boris looked sideways at Tala "you have done well Tala, just as always. The acting you have been doing over the last few years has been second to none and do not fear, you shall be rewarded for your loyalty"

"Anything my master commands" responded Tala softly.

"Now I shall seek my revenge on Kai and with everyone gone, including those pesky Bladebreakers, there is nothing he can do"

"What about Kon?" asked Tala.

Boris frowned "I thought he had left for the hotel with the others"

"He came back, in search of his belongings"

Boris rolled his eyes "I thought I told you not to play your games with Ray, it will only lead to trouble"

"What do I do with him?" asked Tala ignoring Boris comment.

Boris thought about this and the smile came back "bring him to me. I, like you, am fascinated by the neko-jin. There must be a reason why he defeated Bryan all those years ago. Everyone thought Bryan would win, Ray had no chance and yet he won. Yes, bring him to me and, after I have rid the world of Kai Hiwatari, I shall discover the reason behind his secret"

The black car pulled up once again outside Hiwatari Manor and Tala got out.

"And Tala"

Tala turned

"Kai must not suspect you"

"Yes sir" Tala walked back in to Hiwatari Manor snarling at the guard dogs as he passed them.

...And cue the flames!

What?

Come on! You have to admit it was a good twist! No? You don't think it was a good twist?

Still, nothing you can say can take me from this high because...I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!

Woo!

Though I'd feel even better if I wasn't so sick, lol.

Anyway, tell me what you think. Please leave a reveiw.

Thanks for reading.

Kiki