I have to say, I'm pretty damn pleased with this chapter! I do believe it's my finest yet! I hope the outcome isn't too disappointing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade!

Accepting Fate

Dr. Roy sat down in his office, all too aware of the huge weight being strapped onto his shoulders. He went over the schedule for tomorrow for the tenth time since he had received it that hour. The nurse handing him it had did so reluctantly, just like the other nurses had reluctantly agreed to help him in the involuntary euthanasia of Hilary Tatibana. Some had claimed it 'wasn't right' or that it was 'unjust'. The rest downright refused to take part in it and a few even felt the need to resign from their stations. In all truth, he knew that they were right and that it was cruel but there was nothing he could do now. He couldn't go back on his word now that at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon Hilary's like support would be disconnected, she would die and he'd be free. Yet why did he not want to? There had been this overwhelming guilt in his abdomen, a conscience so heavy it made his head pound like a steady beating drum. Sadly, he picked up a picture of his family and gently stroked the faces of his wife and two daughters and their children. It wasn't because of the money that he was taking up this job: the very thought repulsed him. He could keep up appearances that it was the motive if he was ever questioned but the real fact of the matter was what would have happened if he'd refused East. The mad had every part of this city in the palm of his hand and Roy dreaded to think what would happen if he felt the need to take revenge. He had more than enough power to hurt his family if need be: just look at what was happening to Hilary. The police, the crooked ones, no doubt, had been up interviewing him to find out his reasons for Hilary's 'treatment' after getting several complaints from her family and also hospital staff but had found no reason to believe foul play. Or perhaps that payoff obviously handed out by East had played a hand in it. The thought tasted bitter in his mouth. They probably didn't even think of their families as they greedily received that big fat wad of notes.

"Bastards!" He cried out loud, banging his fist so hard on the desk he feared that it had cracked. Luckily it hadn't. A hell of a time would have been had trying to explain that one. Lord knows he had had to do enough explaining this past week to last him a life time. There was a timid knock on the door as Roy gingerly rubbed his wrist. He wasn't as young as he used to be. "Come in!" He beckoned.

A young member of the nursing staff named Laney came in with a rather flustered look on her face. Her pretty mouth was set in a deep frown. "Doctor," She said, "There's a problem in Ward 4. You need to come look!"

Roy closed his eyes in an effort to keep out any worry that might overcome him. That was Hilary's ward. "I see." Standing up, he felt his old joints crack and ache. He definitely wasn't as young as he used to be.

As quickly as he could, he took the elevator up to Ward 4 accompanied by Laney and, just he suspected, the trouble was in Hilary Tatibana's room. And, not as he suspected, Kai Hiwatari was right in the middle of it, along with a group of around eleven youngsters including a news reporter and two policemen who were standing outside the door with their arms folded.

"What is the meaning of this!" Roy demanded as he entered the room.

Garnet switched on a megaphone. "We're here for a protest of euthanasia. Stop euthanasia!"

Furiously, though it was more than fury when he realised that in his pocket was the injection he'd meant to give Hilary this afternoon, he tried to plea with the policemen. "This is a hospital, for Christ's sake! We have very sick patients in here who won't be able to get their much needed rest with all this racket going on!"

One of them, the one with grey hair, produced a permit and handed it Roy. "They applied for a chance to have an uninterrupted protest for twenty-four hours."

"Normally," said the other in a Russian accent similar to the previous, "the council wouldn't allow such a thing, especially in a hospital, but when they discovered that it was to fight the ongoing battle with legalising euthanasia, they decided it would be best to let them go on with it providing fifty percent of hospital staff agreed to provide them with a premises and also to position their patients in another ward until it was over." He ran a hand through his short purple hair. "Besides, you know our new mayor is all about the people."

"Yeah, Doctor," Kai said, smirking. "It's only for twenty four hours. What could possibly happen in twenty four hours?"

He stared at Roy intently with his crimson eyes almost burning a hole into his soul and the doctor was immediately aware that Kai knew something. Roy's heart began beating faster as if in time to some radically quick tempo-ed dance. Of course he knew something. He'd been snooping around the warehouse the other night and on the computer where the stupid East kept all his files.

He was a doomed man.

"I need to give Hilary an injection," He decided to chance his arm, "To give her…nourishment."

"Bullshit!" Cried Hilary.

Kai kept staring at him. "Do that and we'll take a blood sample."

"You have no authorisation."

"When that blood's analysed no one will care, will they, Doctor?" Kai took a step towards him. "Face it, Roy. You're finished. When she wakes up which will be"- he checked his watch-"roughly one hour from now, by my calculation, she's going to tell everything."

Roy froze, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "H-how do you know that?"

Kai tapped the side of his nose. "I have my ways."

"But East-"

"Can kiss my slightly rotund derrière." The megaphone brandishing Garnet completed his sentence for him.

"You don't understand," Roy pleaded, grabbing a hold of Kai's navy shirt, "you don't know what he'll do if she wakes up! He'll come after me and my family. Probably you and your family! He's already tried."

"Can I quote that?" Mariam asked, lifting her pen up from her notepad.

Kai shot her a look that said 'not now' and tactfully softened his voice. "Look, East's only as powerful as he is while he's a free man. Once Hilary wakes up she'll be able to give evidence in a court room and put him behind bars for a good few years anyway. And, if you're still worried, you can get an identity change from the U.S government and go into hiding. And us, well, he's already tried to stop us."

Tyson nodded vigorously. "Yeah! He totally blew up our offices! I'm talking seriously kablamo here!"

Hilary made a big gesture with her hands to demonstrate the explosion. "Kaboom!" Roy, of course, couldn't see it.

"And if that's not stopped us," Mariah continued, "What will?"

Roy shook his head woefully. "It's the time before the trial I'm worried about."

Garnet made a 'pfft' noise and waved her hand dismissively. "Will you relax? We all know that the first person he's gonna target will be Kai." The other's looked at her in appal and Garnet held her hands up defensively. "I'm just saying! And you've all been thinking it!"

This thought made a smile crop up on Roy's withered looking face. "You're right. I wasn't thinking. Of course Kai will be his first target!" He looked at the ever calm Russian. "And I'm sure you can hold your own against whatever he throws at you." There was silence in the room as Roy, knowing he was defeated anyway, considered his next step. He could either run to East and inform him on the current situation or choose to cooperate with the groups of teenagers that have somehow been able to outsmart them at every move. The former would probably be big waste of time since it would only cause a bigger ruckus than what was already going on. He chose the latter. "Alright. Alright, you guys win." He held out a hand to Kai who shook it with conviction. "Well done. You obviously really care about this girl."

Kai dipped his head so no-one could see his cheeks turn a crimson similar to his now burning eyes. It seemed the flames were dancing.

"Oh my God!" Mariah shouted. "Is Hilary blushing?"

The teens, bar the policemen, looked at Hilary's now ecstatic ghost who wasn't paying attention to anything but the fact that all attention was on her, except one man's eyes.

"I think she is," Roy confirmed, smiling in humour at her body. "What do you know?" He chuckled. "The faeries must have told her." He was silent again for a few minutes: it seemed as if he wanted to say something but he couldn't find the words to do so. Every so often, he stared at each of the teenagers and then back to Hilary's body with the dawning of realization evident on his face. "You can see her." It wasn't a question but a statement. "I know that you are supposed to see ghosts – though I personally didn't believe it- and that's how you've been so successful. Hilary's a ghost and she's here right now, isn't she?"

Hilary looked surprised and impressed. "Good guess."

"It's true." Said Tala. "We can see ghosts. And it's also true that we can see Hilary. But Hilary's not a ghost. She's something in between the living and the non-living. An entity, if you will." He nodded to the place she was standing. "And she is here right now, in body and mind."

"She's known everything that's going on," Mariah said softly with a gentle look on her face, "and it's so frustrating for her. She just wants to wake up, to live again, to be real again. Please," Her voice almost cracked here, "Let her. She's no longer a client to us but a friend and we just want our friend to live."

Hilary quirked an eyebrow her. "That's sweet and all, 'Riah, but where have you been for the last five minutes? He's already agreed to give in." She smiled as Mariah made an 'oh' shape with her lips. "But that was so nice! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"So," Max said, holding the last letter on, "we just sit here for forty minutes until Hilary wakes up?" Everyone nodded and Max sighed. "Anyone got any ideas to make the time pass?"

Hilary shook her head. "My stomach's too full of butterflies to think."

"Charades!" cried Garnet and was greeted with a reply of groans. She pursed her lips. "Well you guys think of something."

Nurse Lacey entered the room, where she's left moments before to answer he bleeper, eyeing the 'protesters' warily before heading to Dr. Roy. "Doctor, there's a Mr. Craig East in your office. He says it's important."

Dr. Roy swapped glances with Kai who nodded his permission to leave. Once he had did so, he nodded again this time to the two policemen. "Ian, Bryan, you guys follow him," he said in a hushed voice.

"No problem," They said simultaneously.

"Guys," Garnet said after a few minutes, her smile wavering, "are any of you feeling that thing in the pit of stomach when you think something's about to go wrong?" Mostly everyone nodded. "Me too."

Ian and Bryan ran at top speed, panic on their faces, into Hilary's room. Their faces were red tinged indicating they had ran pretty fast. "Guys," Ian said, panting slightly, "there's a showdown going on in Roy's office and they're planning on bringing it up here! If I were you, I'd scatter!"

"What about Hilary?" Kai demanded. "We can't leave her body here! Can we take it with us?"

"It's a risk if you disconnect her from all the machinery that's keeping her alive right now." Roy appeared at the doorway red faces and out of breath and looking as old and decrepit as ever. As if to explain, he added, "I left East in the elevator and ran up here. You've got two minutes at best."

Kai bit his lip and looked around the room, desperate to find a way out of this situation. "Everyone split up. From three teams of four. Hilary, Tala and Ray you come with me. Garnet, Mariah, Tyson and Ian are in team two, head up to the top floor. The rest, to the bottom." No one moved. "NOW!" Jolted by Kai's sudden bark, they quickly separated and headed to their assigned destinations.

"How are you planning on taking Hilary's body?" Tala asked, eyeing the equipment surrounding her. "It's going to be a bit obvious what we're doing."

Kai turned to Roy and grabbed at his overcoat. His desperation was now clearer than ever. "How long can she survive without the respirator?"

"Twenty minutes tops." Roy replied and Kai flinched. They needed more than that. They heard the elevator doors ping open and Kai fearfully looked at the doctor who nodded almost sadly. "You'll have to take her. There's no other choice. If I don't kill her, East will do it himself. Take the door on the right wall of the room and keep going through them until you think it's safe enough to take the corridors. I'll hold East of here." He saw Kai was about to object and intervened. "I'm an old man, Kai. It's better this way."

"Thank you," Kai said softly, "for everything."

He let go of Roy and was about to take off when he felt the old man's wrinkled hand grab his arm. "When this is over," he whispered to him, "promise me the first thing you'll do is tell her you love her."

Kai smirked. "I will."

The three boys tore off the wires and the oxygen mask from Hilary's face and body then Kai carried her bridal style through the door East had told them about. They'd got to about the third door when they heard a gunshot resonate through the corridors followed by the cry that often came before breathing the final breath. Undeniably, the voice was Dr. Roy's. Hilary made a short gasp and felt tears well in her eyes. He was a good man, in the end. She looked at Kai whose face had now become void with concentration. She imagined his mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out what to do. They had come so close to being together yet, for the sake of ten minutes, it may never be. A clock in the fourth room showed that she had twenty five minutes left and therefore fifteen before Hilary's body ran out of resources and began shutting down. It was best she didn't say anything to Kai. There was no point. It was inevitable anyway. Despite herself, she felt a smile on her lips as Kai peered down both ends of the corridors before signalling that they sprint to the stairs and then up. He'd tried to hard for her. At least she knew at the very last moment when her heart stopped beating its last, she'd know that it wasn't beating on its own. Kai's was there too, with her always not matter what happened.

As they made their way up to the second floor, they heard the stairways doors burst open below them and East yell out orders for some of his lackeys to take each floor. As if they were in sync, the boys all quickened their pace and crashed through the third floor's door and along the ward with many baffled nurses jumping out of their way. Without warning, Kai ducked into an empty room and drew all the curtains before crouching down against the wall. The other two copied him and they all stayed still for what seemed like forever to Hilary until they heard the sounds of several men running past them. She saw Kai visibly relax ever so slightly, the intial danger gone, until he could catch his breath. He then placed Hilary's body on the nearest bed and sat on the edge of it, head in his hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tala nudge Ray and then indicate to the clock on the wall. Hilary did so too and almost choked. She now had less then ten minutes left. Ray seemed to move towards Kai but Tala grabbed his arm and shook his head firmly, biting his lip as he, too, tried to think of the next step.

"I know what you guys are doing." Kai said simply. "Don't you think I'm well aware of the time?"

"Kai…" Hilary whispered and sat beside him on the bed, letting her warmth smother him. "You did all you can. Something's are just not meant to be."

He looked at her sadly. "I wanted them to."

Feeling tears in her eyes, Hilary nodded. "Me too."

Tala peered out of the curtains from the wall. "They're coming back." They were silent until they had passed again. "And they're gone."

Kai stood up and began pacing the room. "There's got to be something we can do!" Furiously, punched the wall, causing some of the plaster to fall off. This sudden flare of anger made the teenagers stare at him in surprise. Kai snorted to himself. Let them be surprised. He didn't care anymore. The only thing he cared about was Hilary and in less than five minutes she would be gone forever unless he thought of some master plan. But he knew there was nothing. He'd done it. Blown it. Bye bye and thanks for playing. There was now blood running down his knuckles and Kai stared at it dumbly. What did it matter? He'd let it bleed. That way, he might have a chance to bleed to death and join Hilary in the next world.

"Kai!" He heard her scream in anguish. "It's starting!"

Kai turned round and, in horror, he saw that she was beginning to fade away. The calmness she had shown a few minutes ago disappeared as the bitter truth settled in: she was dying. Her eyes were filled with terror as they locked on to his which reflected the same emotion. "NO!" He yelled. "you can't go! Hilary," He had to tell her this before she left him altogether. "I love you!" Just as he uttered those last words, her voice, a final scream, and her spirit completely disappeared until there was nothing left but a sorrowful echo. Desperately, he turned to Tala who had been feeling her pulse. "Did she hear me?" Solemnly, Tala shook his head. Kai let himself sink to his knees. He'd failed her. She was gone forever now. Never again could he hear her sweet voice or even get the chance to kiss her lips properly. She would never know how he feels about her. It was ironic, really. He finds some one to care about and then they go away. It was always the same. But his was different. He knew that they were star crossed lover, doomed from the beginning. Then it struck him. He still had one more ball to play before the game was over.

He immediately got to his feet and pushed Tala and Ray away from her body and place his lips on hers, closing her nose shut and trying not to shudder at the coldness of her skin. He gave her rapid breaths of air and then pressed on her chest five times, just as he'd been taught during his time in prison when he'd been forced to learn first aid. Tala and Ray shot bewildered glances as Kai repeated the whole procedure again. Realsing what he was up to, Tala once again went back to her wrist and tried to get a pulse, mentally willing his buddy, no, he was like a brother to him, on. Relentlessly, he tried for a third time once again getting no results. He looked up from her mouth at Tala who shook his head again.

"Don't stop!" Ray urged.

Kai nodded and bent in to give her CPR once more and pushed some more oxygen into her lungs. But this time, he did more then just give her oxygen: he began to kiss her. Snow White could be waiting for true love's first kiss. It seemed his effort had gone to waste and was about to pull away and admit defeat when he felt her tongue meet his.

"There's a pulse!" Tala cried excitedly.

Smiling, he kept kissing her as he felt her eyelashes brush against his cheek as his sleeping beauty awoke. He opened his eyes too, and they met. Her eyes were so much more beautiful on her body, though it was hard for him to believe they could sparkle any more, those glistening rubies. Slowly, they pulled away from each other but not for long when Hilary flung her arms around his waist, feeling his body for the first time. He brought his arms around her. The feeling was mutual.

"I told you I was gonna bear hug you!" She teased. After a moment she let go of him. "Geez, I thought I was a goner for a moment." She smiled. "But I knew my knight in shining armour would rescue me. By the way, what were you trying to say before I, you know, died?"

Kai swallowed hard. "I can't remember."

Tala and Ray tutted and rolled their eyes at each other. "We'll get you outside," They chimed.

Once they were alone, Kai looked at the floor. His normal confidence had completely disappeared. If he could just say those three little words. Why was it so hard?

"I'll try again," Hilary said. "What did you say?"

"I…" he met her eyes, the flames within them dancing, "…love you."

She smirked and slipped his arms around his waist. "I know." She told him, giggling. "I heard you." Shaking his head and laughing all the same, Kai leaned in to kiss her sweet lips. "And by the way," She said, kissing him back. "I love you too."

Please review! And btw, IT IS NOT OVER YET!

jellybean-kitty