Reviews: Thanks to FlyingShadow666, Destiny Quill, Blaze Queenie, DancerInTheDark101, Tenshi of Freedom, Psychic Tiger, Christina Haney and I love Tyson torture!

Chapter 34.

"It's quiet," Kai mutters as they approach the dojo. "I don't like it."

Miguel sweatdrops at the suspicion and unease in Kai's voice. Then again, this lot has been known to get themselves into more danger than humanly thought possible. "Maybe they went out?"

Kai shakes his head as he walks towards the entrance, Miguel right behind him. "No, they're here. I can hear talking inside."

Kai steps into the dojo and finds himself immediately stumbling across of couple dozen empty boxes of ice cream. He slips on a small puddle of melted ice cream falls to the floor with a thud, launching empty cartons into the air.

"Kai!" Miguel says in concern, immediately bending down to kneel by his side. He slips an arm around Kai's shoulders and pulls him into a sitting position. "Are you ok?"

"What in the world?" Kai mutters as he pushes an empty box off of him, rubbing his knee to ease the small ache of pain from landing on it wrong.

"You ok?"

Kai and Miguel snaps their heads up and sees Kai's neko teammate walking out of the kitchen with a popsicle sitting in his mouth. "Ray, what?" Kai mutters in pure confusion.

"Want one?" Ray asks, offering Kai a frozen treat. "We have plenty."

"Really?" Kai asks as Miguel helps him climb to his feet,. He walks over to the kitchen and pops his head inside to have a look. His eyes widen in surprise. More empty boxes of ice cream. In fact, there is enough cartons of ice cream to feed an entire city!

Miguel moves to have a look as well and immediately sweatdrops. "Ice cream?"

Kai spins around to face Ray, disbelief on his face. "Where did these come from?"

Taking a large bite out of his sugary treat, Ray chews for a moment before swallowing. "Oh, Tala and Bryan brought them here," he explains. "Although, it was torture for Tyson, as he couldn't have any because of his diet."

"Tala? Bryan?" Kai's eyebrows reach his hair line as he pushes past Ray and further into the dojo. He soon finds the offenders standing in the courtyard, talking and sniggering amongst themselves, looking none too innocent.

"Have a chocolate one," Bryan offers Tala the frozen treat. "No point wasting them."

Tala takes the treat with a smirk, but doesn't eat it. He opens his mouth to reply, but notices a clearly surprise Beyblade enigma from the corner of his eye. "Oh, hey Kai."

"What's going on here?" Kai demands as he makes his way over to them, his hands flailing out at his sides in shock. "Where did you get all this?"

Only two feral, mischievous looks greet him, and Kai finds himself blinking before it dawns on him. He bows his head the moment his eyebrow starts twitching violently, his hands shaking with rage. He takes a deep breathe as he slowly begins to piece things together.

"You stole an ice cream truck, took it for a joy ride around half the city, used some of the ice cream as projectiles, crashed it, trashed it and then stole all the frozen goods?" he states more than asks.

"That's pretty good," Tala mumbles around a frozen block of sugary ice.

"Nothing gets past you, does it, Kai?" Bryan asks happily.

Standing under the awning of the dojo with an ice cream cone sitting idle in his hands, Claude tilts his head back to look at the young man behind him. "How did Kai know all that, Hiro?"

"He knows everything," Hiro mutters darkly, his eye twitching ever so slightly. Suddenly his phone starts to ring, causing him to remove it from his pocket and turn away from the unfolding scene. "Hello?"

Quickly crossing the courtyard, Miguel walks over to Kai to stand behind him and places his hands on his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down just a little. "Easy there, Kai."

"I can't believe you!" Kai cries, stamping his foot, kicking up a puff of dust. "What would have happened if you got caught?!"

Bryan takes a large bite out of his ice cream. "You can afford bail."

"I may be the richest man on earth, but not even I have that much money!"

"Here," Tala says as he shoves an ice cream into Kai's mouth, successfully shutting him up. "Have one."

Kai frowns as he rips the ice cream from his mouth. "Don't you…" he suddenly trails off when he swallows some of the cream. He blinks and looks down at the treat in his hand. "This is actually pretty good."

"You should try the chocolate one," Bryan offers, handing one to Miguel as well.

"I've always wanted to steal an ice cream truck!" Max laughs from the other side of the courtyard, a rosy tinge to his cheeks warning everyone around him that he is now on a sugar rush.

"Oh no, you did not just say that!" Kai immediately says, his arms flailing around at his sides, causing his ice cream to come away from the stick and hit Ray in the face. He ignores the neko's startle cries and Aaron's howling laughter and moves across the courtyard to cover Max's ears much like an overprotective parent would. "Don't listen to them, they're nothing but bad influences on you."

Max merely laughs in good humor as Kai pushes him away from the two troublesome teens. As Kai is pushing the young blonde away, he notices a lone figure sitting on the dojo veranda, twirling a nearly melted ice cream cone in his hands.

"King?" Kai questions as he immediately stops walking.

King snaps his head up, looking as if he was sitting in a daze to look up at Kai, confusion and a tiny bit of fear in his face. "Huh?"

"Are you alright?" Kai asks, walking over to him. "You look pale."

"Oh, I'm fine," King mutters a reply.

Kai raises an eyebrow, clearly not believing him. He sighs and kneels down in from of him, concern on his face. "You ran into that street gang again, didn't you?"

King lowers his gaze to the ground, away from Kai. "…Yes."

Kai presses his lips together into a thin line, trying hard to hide his anger and frustration. However, blatant concern over takes them both. "Did they hurt you?"

King shakes his head. "No. I ran into Tala and Bryan and they took care of them for me." he then blushes a dark crimson. "Well, Bryan did, anyway."

Kai nods his head, showing that he is listening. "Have you told Tala yet?"

King fidgets even more in his seat, his gaze looking elsewhere. "About what?"

"About why they're after you," Kai tells him quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear. "And about your eye."

Immediately, King's hand flies up to his eye, lightly trailing a finger over the scar. He blushes darkly when he remembers the way Tala kissed his scar ever so tenderly yesterday. "…No."

"You should."

King snaps his gaze towards Kai, his eyes holding a hint of desperation in their shimmering depths. "But what if he…?"

"Don't underestimate him, King," Kai tells him gently, his expression just as soft, an expression only a selected few ever sees. "He won't turn you away. When you're ready, you should tell him."

King lowers his eyes to the ground once again, but then slowly nods. "…ok."

Handing his ice cream to Daichi, Miguel turns to gaze to his lover as he speaks with the timid King and feels his eyes soften. He feels truly blessed to have someone like Kai in his life. So patient and kind, yet fierce and protective. For once, things seem to be going his way.

He takes a deep breath as he turns his eyes to the sky in thought. Barthez is a lingering threat in the back of his mind, but he will not let him determine his peace of mind. He earned this freedom and he's going to enjoy it.

Besides, Kai made a promise that everything will be alright and he always keeps his promises.

"Hey, Miguel." Miguel glances over his shoulder to see his best friend addressing him.

Claude walks over to stand beside him, turning his own gaze towards the group of misfits. "It's over?" he asks with a whisper, not wanting his younger teammates to accidentally overhear.

Smiling softly, Miguel nods his head. "I'm the coach and captain now. Barthez will never gain control over us again."

Claude's face immediately brightens into a smile. "I'm so glad. So, what's out team's name now?"

Miguel gives him a sly look. "The Spanish Armada."

Claude looks to the sky in though, his index finger touching his cheek. "I like it."

"No!" Kai suddenly yells from across the courtyard. "You are totally forbidden from stealing an ice cream truck ever again! I don't care how bored you are!"

"Ok, ok," Bryan says, dismissively waving his hand at Kai. "We won't steal another ice cream truck again."

"We promise," Tala adds, a wolf like grin appearing on his lips. "We've already done that, so why repeat it?"

"Yeah!" Bryan whole heartedly agrees. "Next time we'll steal something else. I've always wanted to steal a police car."

Howling laughter from everyone in hearing shot fills the courtyard as Kai slumps forward, his eyebrow twitching violently.

Suddenly, Tyson's bedroom door slides open, revealing a very pale and withdrawn Tyson. He stumbles out of his room and drags his feet towards the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Wow," Kai finds himself muttering, completely forgetting about the reason why he was angry moments earlier. "It seems like that diet is really starting to get to him."

"Nah, that's not it," Tala tells him, folding his arms over his chest. "He's just devastated that he couldn't have an ice cream."

"Yeah," Bryan says as he throws his arms into the air and shrugs. "I mean, none of it was of the light or reduced fat variety, so he was barred."

"How did you manage to keep the ice cream away from him?" Kai asks, a sense of intrigue in his voice.

Tala and Bryan share a smug look before turning to Kai. "We told Gramps that Tyson was cheating on his diet."

Kai inwardly winces when he imagines a scene where Gramps is chasing Tyson all over the dojo, wielding his kendo stick above his head as he emits a mighty war cry with a surfer dude accent.

"That was awfully cruel," Kai mutters as he scratches the back of his neck. "But, I can't condone it. He is on a diet, after all."

Claude and Miguel share a look, both realizing how lucky they truly are and laugh along with everyone else. Yes, things are looking up.

"Claude," Hiro says as he places a strong but gentle hand on his thin shoulder. Claude tilts his head to the side, a sense of concern settling in his chest as Hiro puts his phone away.

"Is there something wrong?" Claude asks.

Hiro gives him a gentle look. "We need to talk."

Whew, another chapter done. Had a lot of fun writing this chapter, actually. X3 I thought Kai's reaction to the whole ice cream thing was cute. There is going to be more Hiro/Claude fluff in the next chapter!

Please review.