Hi guys! I've been away since forever (pun intended) because grad school is kicking my butt and I am stressed and sad and questioning all my major life decisions - however, I have finally written a chapter and it is super long and fun, so I hope you enjoy it. I haven't had a chance to respond to reviews (mostly because I have totally forgotten whether I even did respond for the last chapter or not) but if you're still around, drop a line and say hi (or just virtual-yell at me to get my life together, whichever works!)

Kai narrowed his eyes as he watched Dranzer blaze through the obstacle course he'd set up, unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong. Next to him, Kenny was focused on the stats his scanner was picking up, for once respecting Kai's need for concentration. The rest of the team had already moved on to practicing against each other; Kai should have as well, since they still needed to work on their tag-team skills but he hadn't been able to achieve the results he had wanted during their drills, and so he'd asked Kenny to stay back so he could be sure he was just imagining it.

Even though he knew he wasn't.

"Forty-six point two seconds," said Kenny, as Dranzer finally zoomed back towards Kai. He caught his beyblade effortlessly and glanced over at Kenny's laptop. Being around Anastasia as much as he was, he was able to understand some of the technical jargon on the screen, but not much.

Kai frowned. "That's three seconds slower."

"The course was designed to be completed in forty-five seconds," pointed out Kenny. "Nobody else on the team has been able to do it in less than fifty, Kai."

"That's not the point," Kai continued to stare at the set-up of wooden planks, metal tubes and – at Tala's insistence – ping-pong balls that had a tendency to move if it got too windy, which meant the course was never the same twice. "I've beaten this before."

"Your beyblade was in much better shape back then."

"Three seconds is still too much time," Kai shook his head and dug his phone out of his pocket, ignoring Kenny's exasperated sigh as he retreated to join the others by the beydish. Kai didn't blame him for being annoyed. As good as Kenny was, he had never quite been able to get why Kai was so particular about drills and practices, and the time it took to complete them. Fortunately, Kai knew someone who was.

Anastasia picked up on the second ring. "Someone better be dying."

"It's not that early."

"If you recall, I was with you until two AM because you refused to let me go home which meant I had to stay up late to work on your beyblade," Anastasia groaned, her voice muffled as she undoubtedly smashed her face into her pillow. "It's seven in the morning, Kai. I'm serious, someone better be dying. In fact, you better be dying, or else I'm not leaving my bed."

"No one's dying," Kai rolled his eyes. "Just go back to sleep and call me when you're awake."

There was a pause, and then Anastasia sighed. "No, it's fine. I'm overreacting, you know I'm not a morning person. Are you training?"

Kai sank down onto the grass and balanced Dranzer on his knee. "We just finished the obstacle course you recommended."

"Ah, that one is never fun," said Anastasia sympathetically. "No wonder you sound pissed. Was it bad?"

"How fast do you think I should be able to do it, with this beyblade model?" asked Kai.

"Off the top of my head? Less than forty-five seconds, definitely, but I'd have to see you in action to know if you're doing something wrong."

"I'm not doing anything wrong," Kai grunted. "Chief says my old time shouldn't apply anymore because this beyblade is new and unfinished."

"What was your old time?"

"Forty-three, give or take."

Anastasia let out a low whistle. "Damn, you just got way hotter."

He snorted. "Be serious."

"Hey, I'm a technician. Nothing is more attractive to me than a good beyblader, unless it's one who buys me lunch. Tell you what, how about I come by and watch you practice, help you figure out if something's wrong?"

"I told you, nothing's wrong," said Kai pointedly.

"Okay, bye then!"

The false cheer in Anastasia's voice didn't fool him. Kai sighed. "Can you get here on your own?"

"Tyson's dojo isn't in Antarctica, Kai. I'll see you in an hour."

Kai hung up, feeling only slightly better. He didn't move from where he was sprawled on the grass, continuing to watch his team-mates' battle from a distance. It wasn't as loud as it usually was, which was nice. Hilary was out with some girls from her school ("I have other friends!" she'd snapped that morning when Tyson had groaned about her never leaving them alone. She had yet to return to the dojo), and Tala hadn't been seen since last night, when he'd dropped hints about a date and looked smug at the turn his evening could take. Kai hadn't wanted any more details.

Kai watched two more matches, both ending in a tie, and then decided they needed to switch up teams if there was going to be any chance of improvement that day. He was about to cut in, when he noticed Tyson looking at the garden gate with a confused look on his face.

"What?" asked Kai.

Tyson turned to his captain and shrugged. "I thought I heard Grandpa talking to someone outside."

Max snorted. "At eight in the morning? Who would…" the blonde trailed off suddenly, and the team exchanged looks before all of them, simultaneously, ran for the gate.

Kai beat them there, pushing open the gate to find Anastasia leaning against the boundary wall of the dojo, her face the picture of amusement. She was nodding politely at Grandpa Granger, who was being his usual self and talking with no intention of stopping, a look of earnestness on his face.

"And I keep telling the little dude, there ain't no way that chick is gonna give him the time of day if he keeps it up, but he won't listen to me! I got the ladies linin' up more often than he does, let me tell you that!"

"I agree. He should be taking your advice," Anastasia nodded. The gate creaked, and she turned to see their audience. She smiled at Kai, which caused Rey to snicker from behind Kai's shoulder, and Grandpa to burst into laughter.

"Grandpa, leave her alone!" said Tyson, finally pushing his way through. He gave Anastasia an apologetic look and grabbed his grandfather's arm, dragging him back inside the house. "I told you to stay away from my friends!" they heard him yell, and then the door slammed.

Anastasia cleared her throat, and all heads swerved back to look at her. "I asked him if Hilary was here," she explained, looking amused. She winked at Kai before standing on her toes and waggling her fingers at the rest of the boys over his shoulder. "Hi, guys."

"Anna! Come in!" said Kenny, pushing everyone away from the small door with surprising strength and beckoning to Anastasia. She smiled again and followed him inside, replying to the chorus of hellos from Max and Rey. Kai didn't speak, but nothing in Anastasia's expression said that she had expected him to: she touched his arm as she passed, but didn't say anything either. Kenny was already demanding her full attention, rattling off the stats of the day and eagerly asking for her opinion on something none of the other boys had any hope of comprehending.

Rey and Max agreed to tag-team while Kai was busy, and Tyson volunteered to do the obstacle course again, so Anastasia could see the kind of work they'd been doing. She sat down cross-legged a few feet away from the starting-point and opened her own laptop, her eyes following first Dragoon, and then Dranzer, carefully.

"Okay," she said, after their first run-through. "Can I have some water?"

Kai blinked, but Kenny was already darting off to the house, returning with a large glass. Anastasia took it and, without batting an eye, stood up and tipped it over. Kenny made a noise of understanding, while Tyson scratched his head in confusion as she slowly poured water all along the obstacle course, following the path their beyblades had taken.

"Your girlfriend is so weird," he said, earning a smack on the head from Kenny.

"Are you forgetting what I did to the last guy who annoyed me, Tyson?" asked Anastasia suddenly. "Beyblades exploding, burnt eyebrows, the works?"

Tyson paled. "Did I say weird? Ha ha, I meant scary. Your girlfriend is scary, Kai. She's way scarier than you."

"Good save," Anastasia gave Kenny back the glass and gestured to the obstacle course. "Do it again, but try to follow the parts of the path that are wet. Don't worry," she added, when she realized they were all looking at her like she was crazy. "I know what I'm doing. Ready?" still confused, both beybladers nodded anyway.

The next run-through was harder, because the wet ground meant it took longer for them to finish, but Anastasia wasn't even recording their time. Once the beyblades were back in Kai and Tyson's possession, she bent down and stared at the lines their beyblades had left in the dirt, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

"Well, that's annoying," she sighed. She looked up, and realized everyone was staring at her again. "It's fine," she assured all three of the BladeBreakers. "I can fix it."

"What's wrong with it?" asked Kai.

Anastasia grimaced. "Are you really going to be interested in that part?" he raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. "To put it simply, the blade is too heavy, so it's not going fast enough. I thought I had the balance worked out, but you're clearly not too comfortable with it."

"How are you going to fix it?" asked Kenny curiously.

"Can't tell you that, haven't figured it out myself," Anastasia twisted a strand of her hair around her fingers thoughtfully. "I think I might just go to the BBA building for the day, this is going to take a while."

"Does that mean practice is over?" asked Tyson hopefully.

Anastasia snorted, while Kai turned to scowl at his team-mate. "Tala can run practice for a few hours."

"Actually, Tala is currently asleep on my couch," Anastasia grimaced. "Remember when I said I thought he'd be a bad influence on Alice? I was wrong, she's way worse than he could ever be. He's not going to be recovering any time soon.

"So now can we cancel practice?"

Anastasia cut in hastily before Kai could actually murder Tyson. "Why don't you guys just give the obstacle course a break and work on something else? Kai, can you just drop me off to the BBA office and then come back the next time you guys take a break?"

Kai grunted in agreement and stalked off towards his car, his mood already dark. Anastasia rubbed her forehead tiredly and exchanged a look with Kenny, whose face clearly told her he was relieved she would be dealing with Kai in his current state, and not him. She flicked Tyson's ear on her way out, causing him to yelp in pain. As the gate shut behind her, she heard Rey and Max laugh.

!

"You're freaking out."

"No, I'm not."

"You're totally freaking out."

"Please shut up."

"I will if you stop freaking out," laughed Anastasia. She threw a scrunched up ball of paper at Kai, smirking in satisfaction when it bounced off the side of his head. He turned to scowl at her, and she shrugged. "You need to leave this room. I told you to drop me off, not babysit me. You're getting on my nerves."

"You still haven't told me what's wrong," Kai groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Where am I supposed to go?"

"You have a perfectly good team to torture." Anastasia sighed and returned to staring at the beyblade sitting innocently in the centre of her desk.

"I don't have a beyblade."

"You don't need a beyblade to torture them, Kai, just glare at them until they disintegrate."

Kai's expression didn't crack. "This isn't funny. You said this was the last prototype you'd make."

"Well, I was wrong," Anastasia shrugged. "This happens all the time. I'm not infallible."

"And you don't know what's wrong?"

"It's probably because I haven't gotten enough sleep. And not even for a fun reason," she pouted, her eyes flickering up to catch Kai's unwavering scowl.

"I don't know why you think this is funny," Kai ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. "I have to practice, and God knows what Kenny is doing while I'm sitting here with you."

Anastasia blinked, hurt flashing across her face at his tone. "Well, you don't have to sit here with me."

"I do, because apparently you have no idea how to fix this," said Kai bitingly.

Anastasia sat up, her expression morphing into an angrier one. "You sound like a petty child who just wants a new toy," she snapped . "I'm trying, okay? This isn't as easy as I make it look, it's really frustrating every time I fix something that was wrong, only for you to tell me something else is now wrong. In case you haven't noticed, Kai, I uprooted my whole life to come and work for someone I'd never met before, this hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for me either. I need this beyblade fixed more than you do, you don't have to keep reminding me that I haven't finished it yet."

Kai looked slightly taken-aback at the actual venom in her tone. "Anna, I didn't mean –"

"No," Anastasia held up her hand to silence him, and then pointed to the door. "You should leave, now, before I get really mad and throw something harder than a piece of paper at you."

Kai got up, but only to reach out a hand towards her. "Look, you're overreacting. Just –"

"Hell yes, I'm overreacting!" she slapped his hand away and continued to point at the door. "I've spent the past couple of days underreacting, and that's the problem. Your tantrums aren't cute, and I'm sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I was willing to take this kind of crap. I spend every waking minute either with you, or working on your beyblade; I certainly don't have to do both things at the same time, and right now the beyblade isn't the asshole in this room. Just go."

Kai stared at her for a few seconds, his expression in the same cold mask it had taken her weeks, month, to break through. Without another word, he turned around and left. The door slammed shut behind him, but Anastasia didn't even wince.

!

KH: I think I screwed up.

KH: I know you're still at her apartment. Wake up.

KH: I'm going to show up in ten minutes and break the door down if you don't answer me.

Tala squinted his eyes at his phone, immediately lowering the brightness on the screen and groaning loudly at the texts he saw flashing across it. He felt something sharp hit him in the arm, and inched away before Alice could elbow him again.

"I think I should go," he said, and winced at how terrible he sounded.

Alice didn't even open her eyes. "Just don't try and steal my car keys this time."

Tala pouted. "Is it stealing if I buy you your weight in alcohol later?"

"Still stealing. I drive to work. Do you guys forget Anna isn't the only BBA employee who lives here?" Alice reached for her own phone and glared at the screen. "Damn, I missed a meeting."

Tala snorted. "Now you see why it's easy to forget you have a job too?"

"Hey, I have a life. It's not my fault her job is her life."

"Did she see me this morning?" asked Tala. He reached for his shirt, and then blanched at the smell coming from it. "What the hell is that?"

"I don't remember," mumbled Alice. She buried her face into the sofa cushion she was using as a pillow and poked Tala's bare back with her toe. "It was probably me, but it's your fault since you said I should make cocktails. I can't give you anything else to wear, sorry. We don't have any boys' clothes here, unless you count Anna's secret collection of men's t-shirts that she sleeps in."

"Does Kai know about that?" chuckled Tala. He tossed his shirt back onto the floor and opened his phone again, staring at the received messages thoughtfully.

"Don't know. They don't know a whole lot about each other."

The slight edge in Alice's tone didn't go unnoticed. Tala shrugged. "They haven't known each other long. It's a process."

"Maybe," Alice sniffed dismissively. "I still think it's stupid."

"Some people would say what we're doing is stupid too," pointed out Tala.

Alice turned on her side and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Two consenting adults who have no expectations, versus two of the most emotionally stunted people ever to exist? Who do you think are the stupider ones?"

Tala shook his head smilingly. "How'd we get stuck with those two?"

"Search me," Alice groaned. "She's such a pain in my ass, I swear."

"Kai isn't exactly a walk in the park either."

"Yeah, but he hasn't sent you six texts since morning asking why the hell you're asleep on our couch," Alice raised a pointed eyebrow, and then snorted when Tala held up his own phone and indicated the texts he'd received moments before waking up. "They're unbelievable. What would they do without us?"

"They'd be two very lonely people," said Tala. Giving up on looking for a shirt, he began typing out a reply.

TI: What did you say to her? Or what didn't you say?

KH: Dranzer is having issues, practice was bad, Tyson was annoying me. I took it out on her. She kicked me out of her office.

TI: You yelled at her?!

KH: I was pissed, but she was worse.

TI: You can't yell at a girl!

KH: Anna knows I didn't mean it like that.

TI: And you definitely can't yell at the girl you're falling for! Who taught you this romance thing?

KH: I didn't yell at her, I was just angry. It's not a big deal, she overreacted.

TI: You also don't tell girls they've overreacted, that just makes it worse. You're supposed to keep your mouth shut and at least try and understand what's going through her head or else she'll just think you're not taking her seriously.

KH: When did you become Dr. Phil?

TI: You wouldn't have texted me if you didn't want my help, moron.

KH: I just want to know if she's okay.

TI: You can't make me go and talk to her every time you think you can't do it. I don't know how you acted with those other girls Hiwatari, but this is Anna. She isn't going to take your shit lying down. Did you apologise?

KH: I just told you she kicked me out, dipshit.

TI: And you left without even trying to say sorry?

KH: If I had stayed it would have made things worse.

TI: How the hell do you even have a girlfriend at this point, Hiwatari?

KH: Are you going to help me or not?

TI: Only because she's my friend and you're an asshole. She's going to be so pissed when you do go back, you'd better have the world's best apology planned.

TI: You might even have to buy her a car.

TI: Maybe you should just give her your car, she loves that thing.

TI: Actually, if you do that she'll just say some shit about how you're trying to buy your way out of trouble, so maybe don't do that.

TI: Hey, Kai, can you come pick me up?

TI: And can you bring me a shirt?

TI: Kai?

"Your phone is so annoying," moaned Alice. She threw a pillow at Tala's head, making him jump. "Make it stop."

"Sorry," hastily, Tala stood up and reached for his jeans, pulling them on as he stumbled his way into Anastasia's bedroom. "I'm just going to make a phone call really quickly."

"Don't steal Anna's shirts!" warned Alice, but he had already shut and locked the door. Knowing how bad it would be for Alice to find out that Kai and Anastasia were fighting just when she'd expressed her personal feelings about their relationship, Tala made sure he was far out of earshot when he dialled Anastasia's number.

She picked up on the third ring. "I can't believe he made you call me."

Tala winced. "Morning, beautiful. How's your day going?"

"Don't act dumb. Kai left here an hour ago with his tail between his legs because I called him out on some bullshit ego-trip he was on, and now he's making you check up on me, isn't he?"

"Can you blame the guy for caring?"

"I can blame him for yelling at me and being a class A asshole when I'm just trying to help."

Tala sighed. "Okay, would you be this pissed about the way he acted if you weren't dating him?"

"Tala, if I wasn't dating him, I'd have quit. I don't need anyone to tell me how to do my job."

"Anna, you know beyblading is his whole life. I'm not defending whatever he did, but he was always going to be an asshole at some point. You're lucky it took this long for him to be one to you."

"That doesn't make it okay."

"I know," Tala ran a hand through his hair. "Look, he's really bad at this stuff. But you know what Kai's even worse at? Asking for help. He texted me as soon as he left you because he didn't know what to do, and all he wanted was to know if you were okay. He doesn't do stuff like that, not for me or for anyone on his team. But he'll do it for you."

"That still doesn't mean he can talk to me like that."

"No, he can't," agreed Tala. "And you should yell at him some more when he comes back, because he deserves it. But just… you have to give him a chance to fix his mistake. Believe me, the guy has no clue what he's doing here. He got mad, and for a second he was talking to just another tech, not his girlfriend."

"How does that make it better?"

"It doesn't, but he's Kai. We have to take it slowly if we're going to give the tin-man a heart," said Tala dryly. Anastasia giggled weakly at his joke, and he smiled with relief. "Go back to work, he won't bother you for a while. Just think about what I said, okay?"

Anastasia sighed. "I'll see you later."

!

Kai heard Anastasia arrive before he saw her: Tyson's voice, which was loud and obnoxious as he argued with Rey about something, suddenly trailed off, and Max could be heard speaking quietly, too low for him to hear across the garden. Then Kenny got up from his spot close to Kai, and that was when he was sure Anastasia had just walked in. She didn't approach him, though, so Kai didn't open his eyes, mostly because he was afraid of what he would see if he did, and also because he was partially unsure whether he was dreaming or not. Three hours in the sun had given him a headache, which had led to a much needed nap in the shade. He wasn't in the mood to interrupt that just because –

Something heavy landed on his chest, causing his eyes to fly open immediately. Anastasia was standing above him, her mouth a thin line. Without comment, she jerked her head at the beyblade she had practically thrown at him, placed his launcher by his hand, and turned away. Kai sat up, running a hand through his hair in frustration. She didn't leave the dojo, though. He saw her go to the end of the yard and sit down next to Rey, her face still impassive. The Chinese boy said something to her, and she turned to speak to him, her face suddenly breaking into a small smile.

"Hey," Kenny jogged up to Kai, suddenly blocking his view of his team-mate and his girlfriend. "Tyson says he'll go against you again in the obstacle course so we can see if Dranzer's fixed."

Kai nodded and followed Kenny back to the course. From the corner of his eye, Kai saw Anastasia turn away from where she was sitting with Rey and Max, clearly to watch him battle, and the smile slipped off her face. He felt a small twinge of guilt at that: he knew she was too proud to come back after the way he'd talked to her, but she had. He wasn't sure if it was because it was him and she was constantly giving him more chances than he deserved, or if she was just doing it to prove some kind of point. Either way, he tried to push all thoughts of her out of his mind and steadied his launcher, signalling to Kenny that he was ready.

As soon as Dranzer hit the ground, Kai could immediately tell that whatever had been holding her back was gone. Effortlessly, he watched her zoom through the obstacle course, leaving a clean, steady line behind her. Dragoon, in comparison, looked like he struggling to get through – the course had changed again in the few hours they'd been practicing in the beydish, and Tyson had always struggled with control anyway. At the end of the course, Dranzer did an unprompted figure-eight in the still-damp ground and whizzed back into his outstretched hand.

Tyson summoned Dragoon back and grinned at Kai, giving him a thumbs-up. "Nice work, man," he said.

"That's an understatement," Kenny let out a low whistle from where he was staring at his laptop screen. "Any takers on how long it took for Dranzer to do that, guys?"

"Thirty seconds!" yelled Max happily.

"Forty-five," offered Rey.

"Do it again," said Anastasia.

Kenny turned around and looked at her in surprise. "Again?" he asked. "But that was –"

"– not good enough," Anastasia eyes flickered up to Kai's, and he blinked at how indifferent she looked. He also couldn't remember the last time she had looked at him for so long without smiling. "Do it again," she said simply.

"Kai?" Kenny turned to look at his captain hesitantly. "Do you –"

"We'll do it again," said Kai shortly. He turned his back on Anastasia.

"I'll do it with him this time," offered Rey. He jogged up and high-fived Tyson on his way, giving Kai a wary look. "You good, man?" he asked in a low voice.

Kai didn't answer. Kenny counted down, and both beyblades began to whizz through the obstacle course. This time, Kai concentrated more, focusing on the edges and the make-shift tunnels that he had struggled with earlier that morning. He couldn't tell how long it had taken, or whether it was better or worse than before. Still, when they were done, Max and Tyson clapped enthusiastically.

"Now that was fast," said Rey, shaking his head. "Kenny, what have you got?"

Kenny opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when Anastasia snorted from behind them. "No, it wasn't," she said coolly. "The estimate for this course is forty-five seconds, which makes it an achievable goal, and achievable goals should never be targets."

Kai tried not to let his annoyance show and kept silent, even though he saw immediately that his team was uncomfortable with the way Anastasia had just spoken, even if she wasn't directly addressing him. Anastasia's face was still indifferent, except now she was standing up and walking towards him. Without batting an eye, she took Rey's place at the beginning of the course and took her own beyblade out of her pocket.

"Do you mind?" she asked Rey. Seemingly understanding something Kai didn't, the Chinese boy grinned and offered her his launcher, backing away slowly when she took it out of his hands. "Thanks," she fit her beyblade into it and smiled at Kenny, who looked completely confused.

"Uh, okay," the younger boy scratched his head and looked at Kai for guidance, but Kai had already put Dranzer into his launcher and was getting ready to go again. "Three, two, one…"

For a millisecond, Kai was thrown at how perfectly Vera had landed on the ground, and at how fast Anastasia's beyblade zipped through the course. He had thought Dranzer made it look effortless, but he had been wrong: it took all of his training and concentration not to let his eyes drift to where Anastasia's bitbeast was making speeding through an obstacle course look like it was an art.

Kai knew he had lost before he saw the satisfied smirk on Anastasia's face, and for some reason that made him want to laugh. She had done it on purpose.

Kenny was staring at his computer screen in confusion. "I – I don't understand what just happened."

"I did it in thirty-five seconds and Kai did it in forty," said Anastasia casually. She summoned Vera back to her and gave her beyblade a fond smile before returning it to her pocket. "Am I wrong?"

"No," stammered Kenny. "You're right, you're exactly right. How did you do that?!"

"I like math," Anastasia shrugged. She glanced at Kai, and her pleasant expression morphed back into indifference. "Anything else?"

Before Kai could reply, Rey coughed pointedly and clapped Tyson and Max on the shoulders, beginning to lead them back into the dojo. "We're gonna take a break, Kai," he called out. "Chief, come on. I'll make us some burgers."

Kenny glanced between Anastasia and Kai nervously, grabbing his laptop and darting off after the rest of the team. Anastasia watched him go impassively, arms folded across her chest. Kai returned Dranzer to his pocket and sighed, running a hand through his hair. Anastasia didn't look at him.

"You did good," he said finally. Anastasia snorted. "I mean it."

"I know. It's just weird how you think complimenting my beyblading can substitute as an apology."

Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "Who said that's what I was doing?"

"I don't see you doing anything else."

His temper flared. "If you hadn't over-reacted –"

"Don't you dare tell me whether my reactions are appropriate or not," snapped Anastasia. "I don't care what I say or do, I get to do it, and you –" she poked him in the chest with her index finger. "– after everything you've done, don't get to be an asshole about it!"

"When did I – what the hell happened?" Kai's anger fizzled out as quickly as it had sprung. He had grabbed Anastasia's wrist when she had poked him, only hard enough to make sure she didn't try to walk away, but he'd become distracted when he realized that the first three fingers of her right hand were tightly bound up with medical tape and gauze.

"What?" Anastasia glanced down at her hand. "Oh, that."

"You didn't have that on your hand this morning," gently, Kai let go of her wrist and cradled her palm gently in his own. "What happened?" a horrible thought suddenly occurred to him, and he froze. He remembered being angry earlier in the day when they'd been together, and he'd definitely slammed the door on his way out of her office at the BBA headquarters. Had he… "I – I didn't do that, did I?"

Anastasia looked at him incredulously. "How could you have done anything?"

Her tone reassured Kai slightly, but he ignored her question. Carefully, he touched the edges of the bandaging. He noticed the antiseptic cream that had clearly been slathered on only a few hours ago under the wrapping, and frowned. "Did you burn yourself?"

"Look, it's nothing," clearly flustered, Anastasia wrenched her hand out of his grip and turned around, heading out of the dojo. "Your beyblade is fixed. I'm going home, tell the guys I said bye."

Kai blinked at her abrupt departure, and it took almost thirty seconds for his brain to remind him that, before Anastasia had decided to yell at him again, he had actually wanted to apologise to her. And now, he wanted to know what had happened to her hand. He sprinted for the gate and made it outside, catching sight of her dark hair as she hurried along the sidewalk in the complete opposite direction of her apartment. It only took him a few seconds to catch up with her.

Anastasia jumped when he touched her shoulder, and the groaned when she realized who it was. "Go away."

"What happened to your hand?"

"Why do you care?"

"If you have to ask me that, you're an idiot," said Kai bluntly.

Anastasia's shoulders slumped in defeat and she stared at the ground, rubbing the toe of her sneaker against the pavement. "Yeah, well. You already made me feel like an idiot today."

"I didn't mean to," said Kai, and he could tell that his tone had surprised her. It was probably the closest to apologetic she'd ever heard him get. "Anna, listen to me," he nudged her chin up with his fingers and saw that she looked genuinely upset. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't get to do that, ever. Okay? I know that. I knew that. I was just mad."

"At me."

"At me," he corrected her. "I'm never mad at you, Anna."

"And you don't get to be mad at yourself either just because your beyblade is messed up, Kai," Anastasia sighed. "Sometimes, it doesn't matter how good you are. If your beyblade isn't at par with your skill, you won't do well, and your beyblade isn't at that level yet."

"I know."

"Also, just an FYI, I beat you today because I'm better at this stuff than you could ever be, no matter what beyblade you have. I design this stuff."

Kai's lips twitched. "I know that too."

Anastasia didn't smile. "So, what? You were just an asshole for no reason today?"

Kai frowned, his gaze shifting to the ground now. "I don't always know why, okay? Sometimes I just… I get angry."

He really, really wanted her to leave it at that. But knowing Anastasia, and knowing how obsessed she was with knowing things, he was bracing himself for an onslaught of questions. And he was prepared to answer them, even if it meant having to say things he hadn't said out loud in years, because seeing her upset at something he'd said had genuinely thrown him.

But Anastasia didn't say anything about his answer.

"Hey," she said softly. Kai looked up, and Anastasia took a step forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kai closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He felt Anastasia's uninjured fingers run through the hair at the nape of his neck, and he relaxed even more. "I know you care," she said quietly. "I needed a smaller part for your beyblade, but I was too mad to ask you to take me. I tried to cut through your defence ring myself, and I burned my fingers because the metal was too hot. That's all. I got a first-aid kit and fixed it, this happens all the time."

Irrational annoyance, anger and guilt rushed through Kai's mind in quick succession at her words, and he had to try very hard not to yell at her, again, for being stupid enough to be so angry at him that she ended up hurting herself. So, he didn't say anything.

As if she could read his mind, Anastasia giggled. "Is this a bad time to lighten the mood by pointing out how I just kicked your ass in front of all your friends?"

Despite himself, Kai felt his lips twitch up into a smile. "Tala's going to be so mad he missed it."

"I'm pretty sure Kenny recorded it," said Anastasia smugly.

"I'm going to make him delete it."

"Not before I make a hundred copies of it."

Kai snorted. "If I let you do what you want, will you let me take you home instead of going the wrong way again?"

Anastasia tugged on his hair playfully. "I know which way home is. I was going the other way on purpose so you'd run after me."

"You're lying."

"Okay, fine, I had no idea where I was going. But you'd have run after me anyway," she raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Right?"

Kai rolled his eyes exasperatedly.