A/n: Um....hi? (greeted by silence) Hello....? It's me...again. I am not dead. Just recovering from a lack of inspiration. It has been years since Beyblade ended and even though a new series is coming out, no Kai, no inspiration. Bleh.

Thanks to my reviewers who have probably moved on to other stories...

On with the story!

Chapter 13 – Look Who's Back and Out

Kenny checked the time again and nearly freaked when he realized what time it was. "Hurry up, guys! It's almost time for Tala's match against Faith's team! If we don't hurry, there won't be any good seats left!"

"Calm down, Chief." Hilary said. "I've sent Tyson ahead to save us some seats. Considering he was the world champion, getting us good seats shouldn't be a problem."

"Way to take advantage of his popularity, Hilary." Max complimented.

"I suppose it's fair. After all, we did all the work for this round. It's only fair that Tyson did his part too." Ray joked.

"Nevertheless, if we don't get moving soon, we'll miss the first match." Kai pointed out, straightening.

"Kai's right, you guys. Let's get moving!" Kenny threw open the door…

…Only to crash into Tyson whole-bodily just as the latter was rushing in.

"HEY!"

"OW!"

Max and Ray instantly went over to help them, asking them if they were alright while Kai and Hilary looked on in surprise that their injured member had returned.

"Tyson, I thought I told you to save us some good seats." Hilary said impatiently.

Nursing his head, Tyson climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. "I was. But guess who I ran into."

"Batman!" Max immediately blurted out.

They gave him odd looks and sweatdropped. "Max…"

Someone else appeared at the door, leaning against the frame. An amused chuckle was heard. "Same old Max. Don't you ever change?"

All eyes flew to the door and everyone stared at the person standing there with her arms crossed in front of her nonchalantly.

Hilary's mouth fell open and she blinked once. Twice. Trice. "J-Jade…?"

"Jade!" Max dove straight at their missing member, wrapping his arms around her enthusiastically as he enveloped her in a crushing hug. "You're back! You're back!"

Gasping for air, she had to wiggle her way out of the hug, gently pushing him back. "I am glad to see you too, Maxie."

"Hey, when did you get in?" Kenny asked immediately.

Ray jumped in. "Why didn't you call us? We could have used the extra help earlier!"

"From what I saw, you guys did quite well." Jade said.

"You were watching?" Hilary remarked.

"Yeah…" Jade's eyes darkened as she added. "And so was Faith."

Tyson snorted. "Typical. Trying to check out the competition."

Jade highly doubted Faith was there to see their capabilities but she chose to remain silent instead. From the corner of her eye, she grew aware of a pair of crimson eyes watching her and she looked up at Kai. His eyes were unreadable, emotionless as he gazed at her. Penetrating her.

She wanted to say something to him, needed to say something. Anything to ease the emptiness between them. Yet…nothing came to mind and she found herself looking away.

"So, Jade, what have you found about Faith?" Tyson asked.

Jade shook herself out of her straying thoughts and remembered why she was here. "It seems that whatever she said was true. There is a war coming and your Bitbeasts are the key to prevailing in it. "

"Dammit…" the capped teen cursed.

"What can we do? I mean, we're in the middle of the competition. We can't exactly quit now and I highly doubt Tyson here would let us." Hilary said.

"Damn straight!"

"Then you better be careful." Jade said. "Faith defied our superior's order to step down from the tournament. I've tried to talk her out of it but she's determined to face…you guys in a battle."

Kai was the only one who noticed the hesitant tone in her voice.

"Hang on. You are saying Faith's side is only one side of the war. Who is the other side after our Bitbeasts?" Ray asked.

"That's the problem. They don't know yet who the main backbone of the opposite side is. They have only heard of shifts in their movements but so far, there has been no physical evidence."

"So why can't Faith just go after them instead?" Tyson said. "She should be focusing her energy and insanity on hunting down the enemy! Problem solved! Well, at least for us."

Jade shook her head. "You guys don't know Faith the way I do. She…prefers to act first, think later. She is not the type to sit around and wait for things to happen."

"Gee…she sounds like Tyson." Hilary murmured under her breath.

Tyson glared at her.

"Look, just be very careful around Faith." Jade said with finality. "Seeing as you guys are pretty much the only things between her and your Bitbeasts at the moment, there's no reasoning with her. She is reckless and bashful. And…ironically the Silver Wolves' best blader."

"Hm." Hilary pondered thoughtfully. "Sounds like Tyson too."

"Hilary!"

"What? I am just trying to lighten the mood."

As they broke into another round of bickering, Max and Ray shook their heads at their daily routine while Jade sighed. She wondered if they were truly aware of the danger Faith represented not only to them but to their Bitbeasts as well.

"Don't worry about them."

She glanced alongside Kai, surprised that he actually spoke to her. He did not look at her but she knew he was addressing her.

"That's how they handle this kind of situations. They'll be fine." he told her quietly.

She looked back at the group, her team, her friends. She recalled the trials and battles they faced the previous year as a team and remembered that even then, they never lost themselves, never gave up. Just kept on fighting and fighting. For each other.

A tiny smile at her lips, she agreed with him. "Yeah. I suppose they will be fine."

"Oh right." Kenny suddenly remembered. "Faith's team should be battling Tala's team right about now in the other stadium."

"Tyson! You were supposed to get us seats!" Hilary scolded the world champion.

"Well, I am sorry I was distracted by Jade's sudden appearance!"

"Why are we still here then?" Max perked up. "Let's get going!"

They had just reached the stadium when they heard the audience burst into an ear-splitting roar followed by Jazzman's voice, trying to be heard over the enormous applause and cheers.

"STELLAR HAS DEFEATED ALEXIS OF THE RUSSIAN TEAM! AND JUST LIKE THAT, THE SILVER'S WOLVES TIED THEIR OPPONENT'S SCORE WITH A ONE ALL WIN FOR BOTH TEAMS!"

"Wow. I can't believe Alexis lost…" Max blinked.

Down in the arena, Alexis stared at her Beyblade lying outside the dish while her golden-haired opponent summoned back her Beyblade without so much as a turned her back on her fallen adversary and strolled calmly back to her team where Faith waited with a cold calculative look. Jade noticed her gaze was not on her teammate but rather on Tala.

"Well, considering what happened last year, you have to remember she doesn't have a Bitbeast anymore." Ray said. "The fact that Alexis actually helped her team get into the semi-finals without a Bitbeast just shows how good she really is."

"But I think the fact that she doesn't have a Bitbeast was her disadvantage here. That's why Stellar managed to beat her." Max commented.

"A one all win for both teams." Kenny said thoughtfully. "That means Spencer and Bryan won their match."

"What else is to be expected from those two?" Tyson said easily. "I mean, Spencer and Bryan are two of the best bladers on Tala's team. And they have their Seaborg and Falborg to back them up. I would be surprised if they actually lost!"

Hilary listened to the boys speculate and she turned the other girl to ask for her opinion. "What do you think, Jade?"

For a moment, Jade didn't reply as she focused on the two other bladers seated at the bench behind Faith. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the Japanese-Chinese duo that effortlessly defeated Steven and Eddy of the All Starz in the preliminaries and quarter-finals. Iris and Freya.

"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you." she said seriously. "I think Spencer and Bryan got off lucky this time."

"Oh, what makes you say that?" Max asked, having listened in.

Jade beckoned at the former Demolition Boys' bench where Spencer and Bryan sat looking exhausted and worst to wear. "Look at them. It looks like they've been to hell and back. Now look at Iris and Freya."

They did and they were beginning to see what Jade was getting at. While Bryan and Spencer's clothes were torn and dusty, the two girls who were their opponent looked unruffled and unaffected at all. Their clothes weren't wrinkled or tatted the least bit.

"Seems to me they hardly made any effort against Bryan and Spencer and just threw the towel in. The question here is why…"

"I think I know why." Kai said. He nodded his head to where Tala and Faith both faced each other over the beystadium. "She wanted this."

Max and Hilary turned to Jade. "Is that true? Can she even do that?"

Considering his words, Jade nodded to confirm it. She knew Faith. She realized that Faith was completely capable of dictating a match even from outside. Kai was right. She did want this. And Jade knew why.

"She wants to show you what she is capable of." she said staring ahead.

Hilary and Max looked puzzled by that reasoning but when Jade looked at Kai, she knew he understood what she meant.

"BLADERS, ARE YOU READY?" Jazzman shouted, cutting through the spectator's cheers.

In response, Tala snapped Wolborg in place and held out his launcher, ready to go. Amused by his eagerness, Faith pulled out her launcher and fixing her blade in, held it out.

Kenny blinked and adjusted his glasses. "Hey, that's a left handed launcher. I thought Faith's dominant arm was her right arm."

"Wrong. Faith's actually a left-hander." Jade revealed. "Although she has been blading with her right arm all this while, her left arm is more powerful than her right."

The Bladebreakers exchanged looks, all wondering the same thing. Considering the fact that she easily defeated Michael with her right arm launch, how powerful exactly was Faith anyway now that she was bringing out all her ammo?

"READY AND 3, 2, 1! LET IT RIP!"

"Go, Wolborg!" Tala shouted as he yanked his arm back viciously.

Smirking, Faith grinned as she did the same. Both Beyblades, black and white smashed into each other with an earth scattering impact. The impact vibes could be felt by the bladers, Jazzman and those seated in the front rows of the audience.

"WOW! DID YOU FEEL THAT?" Jazzman shouted excitedly. "BOTH BLADERS ARE GOING ALL OUT TO WIN THIS ONE FOR THEIR TEAMS! JUST LOOK AT THEM!"

Wolborg grinded against the black blade only to have its attacks bouncing back at it with twice the impact. Faith's blade easily repelled its efforts and tackled it with a force enough to send it flying back against the dish walls.

Jazzman was amazed by the sight. "WHOA! FAITH EASILY THROWS TALA'S ATTACK BACK AT HIM! HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?"

"It's her spin." Kenny realized. "Add in her powerful launch and her counter-spin can deflect anything."

Shaken, the frosted blade spun up the walls to absorb the momentum and now wary, it started to circle its opponent.

"Tala better do something before he runs out of steam." Ray muttered.

"Look! He's making his move!" Hilary pointed out.

Sure enough, Tala's blade started to increase in speed as it continued circling the centered blade. The temperature dropped drastically then. Jazzman was surprised to see his breath in front of him.

"Go, Wolborg!" Tala ordered with a feral grin. "NOVAE ROG!"

Ice cold mist started to form in the dish, clouding everyone's clear view of the attack but the sudden chill was felt by everyone this time along with the snarl that seemed to come from the mist. Without warning an Artic wolf, shouldered with ice crystal wings emerged from the white mist and lunged at the black blade. Jaws snapping ferociously Wolborg consumed it, freezing it completely in its movements in a block of ice.

"He did it!" Tyson shouted excitedly. "He stopped her!"

"Come on, Tala!" Max cheered from the sidelines.

Jade allowed herself to hope that Tala's special attack had worked when nothing happened for the next few seconds. Then a familiar grinding of a Beyblade started up through the tense silence and her heart pummeled to the ground.

The block of ice encasing Faith's blade scattered then, startling Tala and everyone watching. The shock on the Russian blader's face was apparent as he stared at the black beyblade that easily shook off his most powerful attack.

"What the?" he gasped.

Faith spoke up tauntingly. "Is that all you've got? You are gonna have to do a whole lot better than that if you want to beat me, Tala!"

Kai stiffened visibly and let out a quiet gasp to see the dark glow emitting from the core of her beyblade. It was the same dark feeling creeping up on him as when he had first battled Faith. The same as the darkness that he has encountered before. Similar to the dark being swirling within him…

Only one noticed his reaction to the presence of Faith's sacred spirit. From the corner of her eye, Jade watched him and her heart ached for him, knowing the painful memories the feeling must stir.

"Saber!" Faith shouted.

It was fast, the dark spirit that leapt from the glowing bit. One moment, Wolborg was standing with its hackles raised. The next, it was on its back, trying to fend off the fangs of another wolf, one that was black as the misty shadows that rose from its entire being.

The Bitbeast Faith commanded rivaled Wolborg in size and viciousness. Its coat was black, shouldered by the element of darkness that was its power. And its eyes…the fiery pits of hell itself.

Kai's eyes widened at the sight of Faith's Bitbeast. He knew she controlled a sacred spirit. He had suspected its core element from the moment he first battled Faith but seeing it in reality easily beating down Tala's powerful sacred spirit, consolidated its existence and the threat it represented not only to his team but to his very sanity and soul.

It lifted a paw and took a swipe at Wolborg's snout. The ice wolf snarled and howled as razor sharp teeth snapped for its throat. It struggled desperately only to find Saber was far too strong. Below, the white blade trembled as it tried to defend itself against the relentless attacks of the black Beyblade.

"Wolborg!" Tala commanded. "Shake her off!"

Wolborg tried, executing complex moves that would have had any other blader puzzled and at a lost. The white blade twisted left and right, circling the dish in its extricate pattern. For a moment there when he broke free, Tala thought he had her.

Pulling back, he regrouped and prepared another attack.

I have to end this now before it's too late.

"Wolborg!"

Faith's voice broke in, her tone cold and calm as she gave out the command he had intended to give. "Saber, finish it."

The shadows cloaking her Bitbeast started to twist and turn, growing as though it had a life of its own. Saber's eyes glowed fierce red as the mist of darkness began to shroud the whole dish at a rapid speed. Before Tala knew it, he was trapped in a dome of darkness, seeing nothing but his opponent and their Beyblades only.

"What the hell?" he gasped, stepping back warily.

The emptiness and the quietness only served to bring back suppressed memories of his final match against Tyson in their first World Championships against each other, back when he still willingly served Biovolt.

Ice hackles rising, Wolborg sensed the uneasiness its master felt and growled lowly as it bared its fangs in preparation to attack. Its natural senses were hindered for it felt as though something was blocking them partially and the sensation unnerved it greatly.

When Saber moved, both Tala and Wolborg had no idea but in a blink of an eye, it was behind his Bitbeast and its jaws closed over the cuff of its neck in a choke hold.

Wolborg howled in pain, a sound that was surely to be heard throughout the stadium.

Then as Tala could only watch in horror, the darkness started to close in on the two sacred spirits. It slithered around the white wolf's struggling body and tightened in a vice grip.

Below, his beyblade suffered a similar fate with the shadows wrapping themselves around it and halting its movements.

Finally Wolborg let out a tiny whimper in despair and Tala knew what he had to do for the sake of his beloved spirit. Sensing its master's resignation, the wolf burst into tiny particles and swiftly fell back into its Beyblade which was slowing down with each passing second.

Wolborg…

Like a whip, the shadows restricting his blade suddenly lashed out, throwing its captive from its vice grip. Tala could only watch as his beyblade shot past his left eye and landed at the feet of his teammates.

Light once more broke through the darkness as the mist and shadows retreated back into the glowing black beyblade. With a sneer and a snarl, Saber vanished as well, taking with it, every trace of darkness it had expelled in its attack. They were once more back at the stadium and the crowd was cheering for no apparent reason.

Tala blinked as he continued to stare at the spot where Wolborg had been. So shell-shocked was he that he almost failed to hear Jazzman announce the outcome of the match.

"WOW! IN JUST A BLINK OF THE EYE, FAITH HAS TAKEN THE OFFENSE AND ENDED TEAM BRITZKREIG 'S WINNING STREAK TO THE FINALS! THE SILVER WOLVES ADVANCES INTO THE FINALS AGAINST THE REIGNING WORLD CHAMPIONS, THE BLADEBREAKERS! "

A blink of the eye…? No, it had seemed like hours in that last attack. Not mere seconds. It had felt like hours that would never end.

Slowly, he lifted his eyes to his opponent, watching as she calmly summoned back her blade. With a taunting smile and a flick of her hair over a shoulder, Faith turned and headed back to her team.

"What just happened…?" he muttered.

A question asked by many who had witnessed the battle with their own two eyes.

"Dammit! What's up with Tala!?" Tyson gritted out, his hands tightening over the railings until the sharp pain of his injured hand reminded him. "He just stood there and let her beat the crap out him!"

"I don't get it either." Max said. "He just stood there and let her attack him without doing anything. It was like he blacked out or something."

"Or something…" Jade muttered under her breath. She recognized the attack used against Tala and knew how it played to the advantage of Saber's element.

"And did you see that Bitbeast?" Ray admonished. "It was just as big as Wolborg!"

"What was that thing anyway?" Hilary asked, crinkling up her nose. "Was that even a Bitbeast?"

"Well, according to my analysis, it has the readings of a sacred spirit but there seems to be something else as well. Two different readings merged into one." Kenny was already on his laptop. "Both seems rather familiar but I'll have to double check with my past records."

"Then work fast, Chief because the finals are in two days." Tyson said impatiently.

"What do you think, Kai?" Ray turned to the silent captain and was surprised to find him gone. "Kai? Where did he disappear to this time?"

Tala led his team back to their locker room in silence after their shocking defeat to the Silver Wolves. Fists clenched by his sides, the red-haired captain had no words to say to his friends. His mind kept replaying that mere second where Faith had dragged him into a world of her own creation, of complete darkness and solitude. That mere second that had seemed like hours as he watched helplessly, Wolborg easily overwhelmed by the black wolf.

And just like that, it had been over and he had lost.

He opened the door and came to a halt when he saw who awaited them within. Leaning calmly against the lockers facing the door with his arms crossed in front of him and eyes closed, was Kai.

Inwardly Tala grimaced, realizing he didn't have the stomach to face the phoenix immediately after his loss.

"What are you doing here?" Alexis asked, faltering at the door.

Bryan moved in threateningly, daring him to mock their team for their embarrassing defeat. But Spencer stepped in, pulling the shorter teen back by his shoulder and shook his head at the falcon's questioning glare.

Crimson eyes opened and Kai straightened, unfolding his arms to acknowledge them fully. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Ian said sullenly. "We lost."

"How?"

The question this time was directed at the other captain, so far silent as he took a seat on a bench. Kai watched him, not saying anything until he was ready to speak.

"It was like nothing I have ever faced before." came the quiet response. Tala stared at the ground as he recalled those last moments in his defeat. The darkness that had crept up on him out of nowhere. How it had eerily reminded him of his dark past as a Biovolt soldier. "Not even Rashka came close to what I felt out there."

Alexis inhaled sharply to the taboo name of her demonic Bitbeast that had come close to taking over her life and she stiffened rigidly.

Kai's eyes darkened, remembering that it was Jade who had barely defeated Rashka not once but twice all by herself.

"Rashka was purely demonic. It had a mind of its own and it was driven by its own darkness." Tala said firmly as though he was stressing a point. He looked up and his blue eyes finally locked with crimson orbs. "Faith's Bitbeast is far different. It is darkness and she has perfect control over it."

"You're the only one who knows what Faith and her team is capable off, Jade! Why the hell are they so damn powerful? What did Faith do to Tala out there?"

Jade remained silent as Tyson stood in front of her, a fierce determined look on his face. The rest of the team lounged about in the living room of their hotel suite having returned from the stadium immediately after the match. Kenny was once again on his laptop while Max and Ray sat in the sofa, watching Tyson interrogate the dark-haired girl. They wanted to step in but knew they needed the information only she could provide them. Kai has yet to return from wherever it was he had gone to.

"Jade, you have to give us something! Anything! You owe us that much." Tyson pressed.

Hilary was alarmed by the distressed look that flickered across Jade's green eyes. "Tyson, maybe you should calm down. Wait for Kai." she suggested.

"No." he said firmly. "Only Jade knows what they are capable of. She can't keep expecting Kai to protect her every time. Jade, you've left this team for a reason. To help us protect our Bitbeasts. And only way you can do that now is to tell us what you know about the Silver Wolves!"

"Tyson!" Hilary gasped; shocked that he would actually resort to making her feel guilty for abandoning the team. She planted herself between the other girl and Tyson firmly and held up a hand to ward him off. "Hold on, Tyson!"

"Hilary…" Jade said softly, resting a hand on Hilary's shoulder. "It's okay. I can handle this."

"Jade…" Hilary muttered but she relented nevertheless, stepping back.

Jade paced a bit as she tried to gather her thoughts and form them into cohesive words. There was too much at stake here, she reasoned.

The door opened to admit Kai. Everyone looked up as he closed the door behind him and frowned at the group that gathered in the living room instead of training.

"You're just in time, Kai." Tyson said in a manner of greeting. "Jade is about to spill all the Silver Wolves' deepest and darkest secrets."

She pursed her lips to the crudeness of his words but she chose to ignore it this time as she came to stand in the centre of the room.

"When Faith and her team were twelve years old, they had undergone a ritual of some sort. One that ties them to their sacred spirit for life. It's a test that all warriors and bladers of the Silver Wolves clan have to go through to prove their worth and potential. In order to fulfill this ritual, a…sacrifice is required." her hands clenched at this point.

"What sort of sacrifice?" Ray asked.

"The blader's life."

Max gasped softly. "What? But how is that possible?"

"By taking one's life, the person is surrendering all to their sacred spirit. If the Bitbeast deems them worthy to be its master, it would fuse its life force with that of the person, renewing it with its own. That person is reborn, having achieved a spiritual fusion with their sacred spirit." she explained solemnly.

Tyson snapped his fingers, recalling something. "Like what happened with you and Draizer during your match against Alexis last year."

"No." she shook her head. "What I've achieved then was a physical fusion when my body became one with that of my Bitbeast. During then, it was I who was channeling my strength to Draizer. However a spiritual fusion is a two way flow of power between blader and Bitbeast and therefore it's more powerful than a physical fusion."

"At what cost?"

Surprised by the quiet question, Jade looked up at Kai. He watched her intently, ardent to hear her answer. Their eyes locked momentarily and something flickered between them, something that caused her to look away uneasily.

She drew in a deep breath to alleviate the sudden pressure that rested over her heart just from his look alone. The others mistook her silence to speak then as reluctance to tell them the answer. Unfortunately that only drew their curiosity further.

"Well?" Tyson demanded impatiently.

"If Faith's sacred spirit was to perish in battle…" she began quietly. "…so will she."

It took several long seconds for the implication to sink in and register to their minds. Hilary gasped softly as her eyes grew wide in horror. The boys' reactions varied from revulsion to shock.

"What?" Tyson whispered in disbelief.

Grimly, Jade nodded in confirmation. "That's the price she has to pay. In other words, she has more to lose than anyone else in a Beybattle. That's her motivation and that of her team. It's crucial that you understand this before you face her in the finals."

"Damn…" Ray muttered. "I knew they were crazy but I didn't know they were this crazy!"

"Then why are you guys still loitering around here for?" Kenny snapped frantically. "We need to start training and pronto!"

"Calm down, Kenny." Tyson said, holding out his hands to ward off the smaller boy.

Kenny had already started pacing, deep in thought. "Dizzi and I will analyze the Silver Wolves' battle again and try to pinpoint their weaknesses. At the meantime, you guys should start focusing on your stamina and endurance."

Max and Ray exchanged weary expressions and sighed simultaneously while Tyson tried to deter the Chief from forming the idea of a two day crash course training camp for them. Hilary was trying to prevent them from breaking into an argument while Kai was silent, probably still trying to digest the shocking revelation.

Realizing no one was paying attention to her for the first time since her return, Jade took the opportunity to slip out of the suite, to get some space and solitude to think. She hated herself for doing what she had just done. By revealing the Silver Wolves' secret, she felt as though she had just betrayed them. But what about the Bladebreakers? They were her team and first and foremost, her friends. She couldn't just let Faith get away with stealing their Bitbeasts.

I gave her the choice to step back and be the better person, she thought. She pressed the lift button and watched as the numbers above the door flickered from the ground floor. And she chose otherwise. I tried.

The two words running through her head like a mantra, she did not hear or notice the presence of a second person as he came up to her.

"I spoke to Tala."

Her eyes widened in surprise to hear his voice so close behind her and even more so by the fact he had followed her. Stomping down on her mixed emotions if not conflicted ones and composing herself, Jade turned around to face stale-haired boy. "Tala? So that's where you disappeared to. I should have known."

"He told me what happened during his match against Faith." Kai said. "That attack she used on him…that was an example of her power, wasn't it? She wanted to show me what she was capable of. By defeating Tala that easily."

Unable to lie to his face and feeling suddenly tired from trying to defend both sides, Jade merely nodded.

Kai glanced aside, his bangs shadowing his eyes and rendering him unreadable to her. "I see."

Seeing his state, knowing what it was like to watch someone as powerful as Tala fall to another, she wanted to comfort him. Wanted to encourage him to not give up. But she couldn't. No words came to her so she remained silent although within her, her heart cried for him.

Kai was deep in thought as pieces of his conversation with Tala echoed in his mind before clicking with the secret Jade had just imparted to the team. For her to have told them something so secreted and unknown to the outside world…what will it cost her or has it already?

Jade…

Until then, he had not understood the extent of the sacrifices she has made to aid them but suddenly he did. Crimson eyes looked at the girl before him, observing her as she stared down at the ground. She looked so weary and drained emotionally and physically. Seeing her now without her mask of smiles on, Kai wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and promise her that he would always protect her.

He took an unnoticeable step towards her only to have her move away as the lift arrived then with soft 'ping!' to announce its arrival.

The doors slide open and she stepped in before turning around to smile back at him. "I'll see you and the others later."

Kai could only stare in surprise as her mask was slipped back on effortlessly. When the doors began to shut, he moved. His palm rested against the side of the sliding door, he pushed it back to prevent it from closing.

Now it was Jade's turn to look at him in surprise.

Kai realized he could not say what he wanted to say then in fear he could end up pushing her away instead. His mind raced and thankfully he found something else to ask her.

"During my first fight with Faith back in Japan, she said she had a personal score to settle with me. What does she mean by that?"

Hesitation flickered in her green eyes but it faded away to resignation. "All I know is you've once defeated someone similar to her. Someone just like her."

That answer did not help him the least bit and he scowled. "I've beaten a lot of people in the past."

She smiled that Mona Lisa smile of hers. "I know."

"So it's for revenge then." he surmised.

To his surprise, she shook her head. "No. It's not revenge. It's to prove something."

"Prove something…?" unwittedly, Kai removed his hand from the door.

She nodded even as the doors started to close between them. "Yeah. So just what are you going to do about that, Kai?"

Kai could not reply for the door closed shut then and he knew when if he were to reply then, nothing would come from his mouth.

What was he going to do indeed…?

A/n: No comment. Just read and review! ....Please?