XP: Sorry for taking so long! This chapter is longer though :) It's more of a filler chapter, sorry! But from this, we can see that Tala's not the only one that needs help...

Thanks to my reviewers, a lot of you this time !: Guest (LOL), Efyraa (Glad you're back!), Kiray Himawari (I'm sorry for the delay as well), Pheonix09(I'm not a TyKa writer D;) , maham123(thank you :D) , country-grl20(New reviewer :O) , Rangerapprentice (thank you, that means a lot to me ^^), grimnessreaper(yes, because I am a huge talakai fan!), Nazrita(Thank you for your praise :D), love-sunny88( here's the update :D).


***Start***

Bryan couldn't help it.

The cravings.

The itch.

He snuck out late at night from Kai's dark mansion. He went out through the window, climbed down stealthily, until he was on the grass, and ran the long grass patch...

Until...

Red eyes shone eerily in the darkness.

"Gah!" Bryan called out, alarmed, as it jumped on him and held a hand to his mouth.

"Where are you going?" Kai asked harshly.

Kai removed his hand, and Bryan coughed. "None of your business, Hiwatari!" Bryan shoved Kai off him roughly, but Kai merely stumbled lightly getting back onto his feet easily, irking Bryan.

"You'll be back?" Kai asked sharply, dusting himself off.

Bryan snorted. "Course. Tala is here." He started to run off again, scaling the high wall around the mansion easily.

Kai merely stood there, staring up at the sky full of stars.

"You could've said you were worried, you know," Chiba said quietly, voice coming from Kai's phone in his pocket.

"Stop hacking into my things," Kai replied simply.

"You didn't eat the sleeping pills," Chiba said, a statement.

"..."

"Kai, I told you, they are not a weakness. Rather, avoiding sleep because you're scared, that's cowardliness. Don't abbey boys take whatever they can to fight? Take the pills. Sleep. Win them, don't let them plague you in where you should find comfort," Chiba counseled.

"Tomorrow," Kai breathed out, finding a nice spot to lean against the wall to look up.

"You better," Chiba growled, before a beep sound indicated he'd left.

Kai had no idea how long he just stood there.

But it must be pretty darn long, since he smelt Bryan coming back, reeking of alcohol.

Bryan couldn't even find the door, smacking into the wall loudly where Kai was, making Kai wince, as it sounded like it would hurt, a lot.

And Bryan started retching.

Kai squeezed his eyes shut in stress, pinching the bridge of his nose. Dear lord... He'd have to hire someone to clean that up. It's unsightly.

"None of my business indeed," Kai huffed under his breath.

Carefully getting up, picking a spot that would be safe for him to land on, he scaled the wall nimbly and jumped to the other side, to see Bryan slumped at the wall, close to his vomit.

Kai sighed, and set to the task of carrying Bryan. He pulled Bryan's arm around his neck, and put his other arm around Bryan's waist, hoisting him up. He started to drag in incoherent Bryan to the gate and back into the house.

The painful part was up the stairs, where Kai had to bodily drag him up.

Bryan had a nice collection of scars afterwards.

When Kai finally managed to haul Bryan back into his room, he breathed a sigh of relief, dropping Bryan on the bed. That was until Bryan fumbled around, grabbing blindly at Kai. "Come on, babe..."

"Bryan, I am not... a babe," Kai scowled, trying to detach the hands from his shirt.

Bryan suddenly latched onto Kai's shoulders with his teeth.

"Ow! Bryan!" Kai growled, smacking Bryan painfully on the head.

Bryan finally fell unconscious.

Kai stared with disdain at the bite on his shoulder. Oh, what would people think... He sighed, and set about the work of changing Bryan into clean clothes and wiping him off with a cool cloth. He supposed Spencer would usually do this, but the gentle giant really deserved a break after working hard yesterday cleaning the old dusty mansion down when they first arrived, so Kai didn't want to wake him up.

Kai stared at Bryan's bleeding head and sighed. He searched around, finding bandages. When he found it, he grasped it in his hand and went back to Bryan's side, carefully wrapping his head up.

Now, one would think Kai would be very good at bandages, but it only got worse and worse, until Bryan's head looked like a messy mummy head. Kai frowned. Oh well. It would have to do. When he looked out of the window, he saw the sky lightening. He supposed he should go shop for groceries in Spencer's stead. He owed him a favor after all. Swinging his car keys, he went out of his mansion to get his car.

"Can I go with you?"

Kai turned to see Max smiling sweetly at him, still dressed in pajamas.

Kai blinked. It was rare to see someone up so early. He nodded.

"Wait for me!" Max chirped, dashing back into the mansion to change.

Kai started the car first, and sat inside to wait for Max. A few moments later, Max rushed towards him, hair messy from waking up. "To tell the truth, I couldn't really sleep because I was so scared of the dark," Max admitted laughingly, entering the car.

Amused Kai raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to buckle up and started to drive off.

"You know, I watch all the horror movies, and my imagination just goes wild," Max chuckled. "I went to sleep with Tyson, but he snores so loud!"

"And you're still energetic," Kai snorted.

"Ah! Don't you know? Sometimes when you don't sleep you get all happy and giggly like an insane person," Max grinned. "And I know you'd buy me a super large ice-cream if I go with you."

"Hn," Kai smiled. Max was like a little brother to him, he liked spoiling him with treats. Especially if he had to go on a business trip, he would bring all sorts of goodies and souvenirs back for Max, who liked collecting them. Max liked buying stuff at the countries they went to during the beyblade championship.

"Erm," Max blushed, glancing awkwardly at the bite on Kai's shoulder.

"Hm?" Kai questioned gently.

"Ehhhhh, it's nothing!" Max said flusteredly, laughing awkwardly.

Kai blinked in confusion. They reached quickly, and Max rushed out to the ice-cream store to order immediately.

"I want chocolate and strawberry and mint and vanilla and mango and-" The owner was by now, used to Max's orders, and was calmly writing down everything. "And all on one cone!"

"Here ya go, lil' lad," The owner beamed at Max's enthusiasm.

"Thank you sir!" Max thanked politely, receiving his large treat with both hands, eyes wide with the prospect of the sugar rush of the blissful delight to come. Kai took out his black lather wallet and handed the man a note...

FLASH.

Both Kai and Max winced.

A reporter was taking pictures of them, early in the morning?

"Kai Hiwatari! Wow, I've struck big! Can you answer a few questions? What's your relationship with Max Tate?" The reporter asked excitedly.

"Why, he's my son," Kai deadpanned.

"I knew it! He's your... what?" The reporter blinked, just as Kai was pulling Max away. They went into the supermarket, and Kai started to find the things on the shopping list as Max licked his icecream happily, pushing the cart with his body as he hunched over the handles, hands holding his treat in front of his face.

FLASH.

"Can you at least not on the flash?" Kai asked irritably, getting a headache. He, afterall, had not slept.

"Oh, I think we're running out of those headache pills," Max frowned as he saw Kai pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll go get some for you." Max headed off, leaving the cart there.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

Kai sighed irritably. The reporter only grinned.

"Look..." Kai muttered.

"Yes?" The reporter beamed eagerly.

"It's too early for this," Kai growled, red eyes glowing dangerously. "You know I can make you disappear from the face of the world if I want to..."

"I...I'll be going now!" The reporter stuttered.

Kai can just imagine all the headlines...

Kai Hiwatari part of the MAFIA!

Kai Hiwatari with team mate and lover, Max Tate...

"I'm back Kai!" Max beamed, plopping the bottles into the cart, his ice-cream gone and eaten in the short while he was gone. "Oh, the reporter's gone?"

Kai nodded quietly. "It's that bad now?" Max frowned, feeling the pain for Kai. He reached his hands up to Kai's face, rubbing the sides of Kai's temples with his thumbs, massaging it.

"...Let's go now," Kai said awkwardly, turning away.

"...Okay," Max smiled sheepishly.

Kai paid, and carried most of the groceries. Max swung his bags around cheerily as he skipped down the road to the car. They went home together in silence, as Max dozed off in the car.

"Kai, you're back," Spencer smiled as Kai opened the car door.

"Un, I bought the groceries," Kai tilted his head to the back seats.

"Thanks, Kai..." Spencer took the groceries gratefully as Kai gently lifted Max's body in his arms.

Kai nodded, carrying Max in. Upon inspection, the blond boy had dark circles under his eyes. He really couldn't fall asleep... Kai thought for awhile. What would aid Max in his sleep? He remembered that old teddy bear he used to have as a kid... that he wrapped up in plastic bags and threw into the closet when he came back to japan to visit and found it. Hm. That would do. He heard that Max slept better with a stuffed toy in his arms. He brought Max back to his guest room, before rushing towards his room and rummaging in the closet.

He found it. As he pulled out the large brown bear, a wave of nostalgia hit him. He sighed, and carried it to Max's room. Gently, he pushed it near Max, and Max's arms immediately flung out and grabbed it, pulling it tight to his chest, sighing at its fluffiness.

"Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai..."

Kai's eye twitched in annoyance as he took out his phone hurriedly in case Max woke up. "What the hell do you want, Chiba?"

"Well, I was just wondering..." Chiba said quietly. "Besides you and Tala, there are three other boys right? From the Blitzkrieg team. Do you think they have any troubles...?"

Kai thought for awhile.

Bryan had alcohol issues, he supposed. But he didn't really know them that well, he'd been separated from them for quite some time. Tala would know, but Tala had amnesia...

"What are you doing?" A familiar voice asked sweetly in Russian

Kai turned to see Tala peeking in from the door with a curious smile.

"Ah, um..." Kai glanced sideways for a moment, thinking. "Talking with a friend is all," Kai looked back with a hesitant smile.

"Really?" Tala perked up. "A friend you made in Japan? Or is he from Russia?"

"Hello Tala!" Chiba greeted cheerfully from the phone, changing it to loudspeaker. "My name is Chiba, I'm from Russia, but I'm in Japan now. Kai told me tons about you!"

"Oh, hello Chiba," Tala greeted back shyly looking at the phone.

"We can be friends too," Chiba proposed, making Tala smile again.

"Sure!" Tala readily agreed.

"I'll talk to you via webcam every few days then," Chiba concluded. "Byebye Tala! Kai, I'll talk to you later."

"Byebye," Tala chuckled happily.

Kai clutched the phone in his hand tighter. The old Tala would never make friends so readily or be so delighted with meeting new people. The old Tala would not be so trusting. The new Tala sought joy in having more friends and was easily happy. Should they really change him back? Wouldn't it be better to have a new life, to forget everything that happened?

How many times had they thought of killing themselves, or wanting to be somewhere else from the abbey? To have a normal life? To forget everything? Now that one of them achieved it, are they going to take the new freedom of their friend away? They really needed to discuss this.

But Kai pondered about what Chiba had said. Did the rest of them need help as well? Perhaps Tyson?

"Breakfast!" Rei hollered cheerily from the kitchen.

"Let's go Kai," Tala beamed. Tala grabbed Kai's hand and pulled him to the kitchen. Kai pulled away when they neared the kitchen, making Tala look at him with confusion and a bit of hurt.

"Kai, morning," Rei greeted. Spencer poured a cup of coffee and set it on the table for Kai.

"Don't wake up Max and Bryan," Kai said softly as Rei prepared to go wake the others, nodding in thanks to Spencer. "They slept late."

Rei nodded, rushing up to call the other members. He paused when he neared Ian's room. Would Ian appreciate being woken up by someone unfamiliar? He knocked gently, and was startled when he heard Ian say, "Come in."

Rei opened the door to see Ian on the computer, with eye bags under his eyes. He appeared to have been playing the whole night. The room was dark, and only the glow of the computer illuminated Ian's face.

"Ian? Breakfast is ready..." Rei said hesitantly.

"Kay, thanks," Ian replied, but showed no intention of moving.

"It's bad to stay up late gaming," Rei chided gently. "You'll hurt your eyes."

"Ya ain't my mother," Ian retorted as he shot more gory zombies.

Rei frowned. "Come on, Ian. Go eat."

"Meh, after this game," Ian shrugged.

Accepting the answer, Rei moved to Tyson's room. Rei's heart ached when he opened the door to Tyson's room. Tyson had obviously cried himself to sleep, with the many tissues on the ground, tear-stained cheeks and mussed up hair. He was in some ridiculous position snoring loudly, he was curled up into a ball and frowning.

"Hey, Tyson," Rei called softly, gingerly treading over to Tyson. He shook Tyson's body. "Tyson? Breakfast is ready."

"Huh?" Tyson woke up quickly, showing that he had not slept well. "Oh, Rei..." He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Alright, I'm coming. Hold on."

Rei moved out to give Tyson his privacy, just in time to see Spencer storm out of Ian's room with him pulling a protesting Ian's ear.

"Ow, Spencer!" Ian whined. "Lemme go! I haven't saved yet!"

"Yeah, you haven't saved the whole night and you wouldn't save the whole day!" Spencer growled. "Do I need to force feed you Kai's sleeping medication?"

"Ah, um," Rei fretted. "Spencer, I think you're being too harsh..."

"Harsh? This kid would've stayed in there forever if I don't drag him out!" Spencer frowned. "I should take away all your electronics at night again!"

"Noooo!" Ian protested. "Electronics are my life! And they're new and I haven't tried all of them out yet!"

"Kai spoils you too much!" Spencer retorted. Rei trailed behind worriedly as Spencer dragged a thrashing Ian down the stairs. "Kai! Ian didn't sleep last night because of all the new stuff you bought!"

Kai blinked and stared at a pouting Ian. Hm. A lot of people missed sleep last night. "Ian, you need to sleep. If not I won't buy you new games in the future."

That caught Ian's attention. "Okay! I get it!" Ian sulked. "I'll sleep at midnight latest, ok?"

Kai gave Spencer a pointed look, because Spencer was the one complaining about Ian's habits.

"Yes, that's be okay," Spencer confirmed, letting go of Ian's red ear.

Tyson trudged down and they started to eat breakfast without Max and Bryan.

"Bryan," Tala called out quietly when he was done, wandering away to find Bryan's room.

Kai decided to bring up the topic of Chiba when Tala was out of earshot. "Do you guys think..." Kai paused, wondering how best to phrase it. "that you need a psychiarist?"

Confused looks were passed around.

"I... think I might," Tyson said quietly. Kai nodded.

"I do not," Spencer said.

"HAH! You do!" Ian said accusingly, pointing his finger at Spencer. "You keep shouting and being all scary and shit when you're unhappy at me, Tala and Bryan! And you totally went overboard with Tala!"

"What about you then? Mister 'Games are my life'? You don't sleep at all to play new games, and you keep breaking your promises, you liar!" Spencer scolded back.

"Wha! Hey at least I TRY to stop! Ya don't!" Ian said angrily.

"I shout at you guys because I care!" Spencer growled.

Kai noticed that Rei had severe eyebags under his eyes too. "Rei?"

"Ah.. I don't think I need one at the moment," Rei said gently.

Kai's phone rang suddenly, and Kai picked up. "Hello?" That silenced Spencer and Ian, and one went to wash the dishes and the other went to seek entertainment from the tv.

"Kai Hiwatari, I demand to know where you have kept my son! I called the Kinomiya's dojo and I found out all of them are gone! Where have you taken them? Why are you making them run away from home?" Judy Tate screamed into the phone.

Kai's face was just like, WTF. Then it twitched and morphed into dark anger.

"Well, why don't you ask yourself what it was that made them come to me? Pathetic excuses of parents!" Kai bit back.

"My little Maxie was so obedient until... until he met the Bladebreakers!" Judy said hysterically. "It was you, you rascal! Hiro also said that you influenced Tyson to run away from home!"

Dear lord, Hiro...

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose in stress. Apparently, the woman was speaking so loud even Tyson could hear, and Tyson grabbed the phone from Judy, always ready to defend his best friend that defended him from his Dad.

"Listen here, Max's mom," Tyson said darkly, making the woman pause when she realised it was Tyson. "Max took his savings to sneak all the way over here to Japan, ALONE. He came crying at my doorstep looking like a mess at 3AM, speaking incoherently until I managed to get him to calm down. The poor boy then told me about not being able to stand your high expectations anymore and you keeping him from his Dad. I mean, hell, my grandpa would jump for joy if I scored 70, and you scolded him and wanted him to be the best? And you tore up all of the letters from his Dad and confiscated his cellphone and laptop so he couldn't contact him! What kind of a mom are you?"

"... I... I only wanted the best for Max, I want him to get into the best schools, exams are coming up and-"

"Well, fuck you! Is your son's happiness for important or the future you made up for him?" Kai wrenched the phone away from Tyson, who looked like he was going to explode from all the anger. Tyson wasn't done, though. "And don't insult Kai! Kai's nice enough to provide us with a house and meals! He's considerate towards us and cares about what we feel unlike YOU! We would've been starving on the streets to avoid going home!" Tyson hollered.

"Tyson," Kai said warningly, though his face revealed that he was a little embarrassed from Tyson defending him.

"You're welcome, Kai," Tyson gave a little smile at his friend's awkward face.

"I want to talk to Max," Judy demanded.

"Max is sleeping," Kai sighed. "He stayed up late yesterday-"

"OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SON!" Judy screeched.

Kai blinked.

Ian started to laugh maniacally from the living room.

All of them went over to watch the news.

"It is reported that at this morning, 5am, Kai Hiwatari and Max Tate, two renowned world-class beybladers were seen at a supermarket in Tokyo, looking very close... speculations have stated that they are young lovers living together-"

Kai's face twisted into a WTF look again.

"There is the evidence of Kai paying for Max's ice-cream, and them shopping together for groceries. They are most likely living together, with Kai being Max's sugar daddy..."

Tyson joined in the laughter with Ian, and Spencer wouldn't help but chuckle, and Rei looked deeply amused.

"With a closer zoom in, Kai's neck shows a love bite, probably from Max. Who knew the blond boy was so feisty?"

Wide eyes stared at a blushing Kai who clutched at his neck and avoided their stares.

"OMG, KAI!" Tyson screamed.

"WHO?" Ian asked excitedly.

"Did you use protection?" Spencer asked seriously.

"Who is it from?" Rei asked curiously.

Judy's voice was still screaming at Kai though.

"It wasn't Max!" Kai protested.

"WHO?" They asked again.

"Did you use protection?" Spencer repeated, making Kai blush darker.

"Spencer!" Kai hissed. "There was no sex!"

"Oh," Spencer blinked.

"WHO?" Tyson and Ian insisted, getting into Kai's face, as Rei moved closer as well in curiosity.

"A-ah..." Kai looked upwards at the ceiling where their rooms were at.

"Some girl you met at a club?" Tyson asked.

"One of us?" Ian waggled his eyebrows.

"It was..." Kai said, defeated. "Bryan."

"BRYAN?" Shocked looks stared at Kai.

"But... Bryan hates you to death..." Ian mumbled in disbelief.

"Strange, I thought Bryan was straight," Spencer said thoughtfully.

"It's okay Kai, your secret's safe with me!" Tyson said sincerely.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter what your..." Rei blushed. "Preferences are."

Kai's face went back into a WTF look. He simply walked away, not bothering to correct them.

***End***


XP: HAHA, sorry for the gay moments again. xD I'm indulging my own shonen-ai urges.