Hello. :) I just wanted to thank all my awesome readers for inspiring me to continue this story. Its been hard but worthwhile and I love you all heaps!

Chapter 13 – Where evil lurks…

Sensing that Ray and Tyson needed to talk Lee had herded his team out and back to the comfortable surrounds of the hotel to give them privacy. Ray sat with his back against the cave's rock wall taking comfort in its solid presence. Tyson lay against his chest asleep; the blunette was emotionally drained and exhausted. Idly the neko-jin stroked Tyson's hair waiting for him to wake up.

He was a bit embarrassed with himself really. How could he think that Tyson would betray him? If he wasn't still in the throes of 'heat' he wouldn't have been able to sense the emotions that Tyson had been giving off. Sighing he shifted slightly causing the person who held his heart to snuggle closer. An amused smile lit up his face. 'He's so cute sometimes.' Ray thought then promptly rolled his eyes. 'I sound like a fan girl.'

With a snort and a slight shake of the head he turned his attention back to the blunette. He had a very bad feeling that stupid male was going to try and take Tyson away from him. He needed to prepare and the only person he knew he would be able to turn to, to help him protect Tyson would be Hiro. It was sure to be an uneasy alliance.

'Your friends will help you.' Drigger's sharp tones echoed in his mind calmly. 'They are not going to let anything get in the way of your happiness.'

'Have you been listening the entire time?' Ray thought with a mental sigh.

'Of course! I have to keep an eye on what my human is up to.' Ray could sense the smirk in the tone of Drigger's voice. It changed to a more serious note quick enough. 'And there is no shame in what happened little brother. It happened and you will probably be a stronger pair because of it.'

'Any ideas then oh Wise one?' Ray thought back.

'You could always kick his arse now and get it over with?' Drigger suggested.

'Anything practical?' Ray sighed.

'How is that not practical? Hiro would help you to.' Drigger pointed out.

'This guy hasn't done anything yet that has warranted the arse-kicking.' Ray thought calmly.

'Involve Max and Kai. And if you feel comfortable, tell some other bladers that you can trust. I agree with you that the demon spawn is going to try something. They can all keep any eye on Tyson.' Drigger replied.

Ray could feel the slight worry in his bit beast's voice. That only doubled his concern. If Drigger was worried then... He shook his head. It was best not to think about it now. Not when Tyson was waking up.

'Later.' Drigger purred at him.

*ts*

"Hey." Tyson turned his head to look at Ray sleepily. With a tired smile he gently brushed his lips against Rays. Golden eyes blazed and he pulled the younger man into a passionate kiss. He started to pepper Tyson's face and throat with kisses but the blunette pulled away much to his disappointment.

"We need to talk." He said looking sadly at Ray and began to pull out of the neko-jin's embrace. Ray growled and only tightened his hold possessively. Tyson fell back against him.

'There is no use fighting him when he is like this.' Dragoon's voice said gently before her awareness pulled away.

"That guy...Jack. He's my ex. We went out for almost a year." Tyson began with a dejected tone. Dragoon had been pushing for him to tell Ray about the youth for a couple of days but it was something he desperately wanted to forget about.

"A year? How come none of us knew about him?" Ray cut in sharply. The blunette pulled his legs close to his chest and hugged them tightly. He rested his head on his knees not looking at Ray ashamed.

"It's not something you tell people over the phone or through email or letter. Besides he wanted to keep it quiet and I agreed because I didn't want the whole world knowing about my private life. I was so completely in love with him that I didn't see he was using me and thought that I was anything more than a prized possession. He always managed to manipulate me into doing whatever he wanted. " Tyson said bitterly eyes welling slightly at the pain of the memories that flooded him. Ray was surprised at the depth of the bitterness.

"Ty..."Ray began to interrupt but was silenced when Tyson faced him and placed a hand on his mouth.

Tyson looked at him sadly. He shook his head. "If you interrupt I won't be able to finish."

Ray nodded once to show his understanding. Tyson rested his head against Ray's chest as if to draw strength to continue. "We met through school. He was a foreign student and I befriended him. Its hard being new and I thought he would need a friendly face. We hit it off right away. He was charming and funny. It didn't take long for our friendship to stop being platonic. He was so charming and good looking and I couldn't understand why a guy like him would like someone like me."

Ray stiffened and opened his mouth to interrupt but Tyson ploughed on. "It didn't take too long for our relationship to get...physical. He was very demanding but when everything went wrong about 6 months later it became very hard to meet those demands. He started to pull away but I thought it was to do with the fact that I didn't have a lot of time for him with Gramps being ill. I hoped that I would be able to talk to him about everything that was going on but he never had time. I had been going to broach the subject about his strange behaviour and the problems at home with Kenny but he and Hilary were so happy I didn't want to burden them with my problems. Sometimes you just don't want to ruin other people's happiness... Everything came to a head after my final exam. I had tried to get hold of Jack but couldn't so I arranged to meet Hilary and Kenny in town. We went out clubbing and I bumped into Jack. He was wrapped around some young thing. I was completely horrified and he was furious. I did the only thing I could think of. I pleaded sick to the others and left."

"The next morning I went to this secluded spot that we used to go to, to think things through. I had contacted a mutual friend of ours who told me that Jack had been seeing some random guy for about 2 months. I was pretty gutted when I heard that. He found me there and that's when things completely fell apart. He told me everything was my fault. If I had spent more time with him he wouldn't have had to find 'companionship' with someone else. That I was selfish and that it wasn't a surprise that no one wanted me. All I did was use people and discard them when I was through with them." Tyson said pain ringing in his voice. "I didn't say anything just listened to him as he ranted at me. Finally he told me that it was over and that he never wanted to see me again. His life would be better off without me. Then he walked off. The sad thing is that I wanted to run off after him and beg him to give me another chance but Dragoon prevented me from making that stupid mistake. I found out the next day that he had been seeing other people since we had started going out. I was so devastated and depressed. Over the next couple of weeks I lost my appetite, weight, and my interest in kendo and Beyblading. Gramps began worrying and when Hiro arrived they began talking and decided that it would be better to try and take me out of Japan for awhile just to get away from things. I didn't tell Gramps why I was so depressed but I always think he suspected why I was so miserable. Hiro tried to get it out of me but this was one thing I really didn't want to talk about. And it's not something I really want to talk about again."

Tyson just lay against Ray eyes gazing into space sadly. A hand pulled his face up to look into golden eyes. "He's a fool. And I hope you don't believe any of the shit that he told you. You are a beautiful person – why do you think so many people are drawn to you? You are not is selfish. And as for no one wants you? That is the furtherest thing from the truth. I want you. Kai wants you. You have over a million fan girls and guys who would love to be able to be called you boy/girlfriend. Hell they would be happy if they could call you a friend! You deserve so much better than that."

"I've found that person and I couldn't be more grateful." Tyson whispered shyly. A blush tinged his cheeks but he gazed into golden eyes determinedly.

"You don't believe the prick?" Ray prodded, eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"No. I don't anymore." Tyson answered with a small smile.

Ray gently brushed the back of his hand down the blunettes cheek. "Good." He whispered back before l kissing Tyson gently. Tyson turned and threw his arms enthusiastically around Ray's neck and deepened the kiss. A smirk graced Ray's face as he the blunette straddled his hips. Time to show Tyson how much he cared...

*ts*

The preparations were almost complete. It had been a mistake to let Tyson go like that. He had been careless and been caught. It wouldn't happen again. Tyson was his and there was no one that could stand his way. NO ONE!

*ts*

Dragoon and Drigger stirred restlessly. Something was about to happen. Something bad. It was time.

So...drop me a line and let me know what you think. I will try and have another chapter up within the next few weeks but I am also updating more of my stories so it may take a little longer. Hope you enjoyed the latest installment.

Love Storm! :D