CHAPTER 16

Love will remember you,

love will remember me

I know it inside of my heart,

Forever will forever be ours,

Even if we try to forget

Selena Gomez

Tyson was signing his own cast for kicks when Hiro dragged himself into the spare bedroom they'd cleaned up to temporarily house Tyson to take care of him. Hiro situated his ass on a chair right across the couch where his brother was lounging and opened his mouth to disturb the peace of the quiet afternoon.

"Have you been able to recall anything that might be of importance to me?"

Tyson sighed heavily before putting the cap back on the sharpie to appraise his only relative who was still alive with a dead look. "No"

Hiro spread his knees a little wider and leaned forward, asserting dominance over his younger sibling. "You said you were in the middle of a beybattle when it happened."

"Yep"

"You also said that you saw stars and planets. Can you describe the whole setting once more?"

"No"

"Why not?"

Tyson sat up with a frustrated growl. "Because I'm tired of repeating the same thing over and over and over again!" Hiro's eyes widened at the sudden outburst and he reared back to look at Tyson like he'd gone crazy.

"I'm just asking you to help me out a little bit here," he said with patience. "I might be onto something big and you're the only one who has any relevant piece of information to share. What if you'd missed out on something when you told me about it the first time and the second time-"

"And the third and the fourth and the fifth?" Tyson scoffed and stood up, balancing on one leg and reaching for his crutches. "You're insane, Hiro. Brooklyn's death has driven you over the edge," he said knowing he was causing no small injury yet still feeling no remorse. He'd taken enough of his brother's shit.

Hiro flinched at the words but tried to hide it by staring condescendingly and pitifully at Tyson before pulling himself up to his feet and leaving without another word.

The former champion hobbled all the way to the window and closed his eyes as the door was shut and he was alone again. He hadn't meant to get angry with Hiro but his brother had been pestering him day and night with the questions about another dimension. A dimension of bitbeasts that was accessible to humans who believed in it and could connect with it.

A dimension he'd seen with his own two eyes. The most beautiful place he'd ever had the opportunity of witnessing. The place where the good and the bad reigned separately yet in harmony. The more time he spent thinking about the place the more memories it brought back. Memories that were not all his. Because even though Kiaan, the sassy Indian blader whom he made friends with during the last beyblade championships, had told him about a little known tribe in the jungles of Brazil called Ararangua he had never been to the land himself. But somehow he now had memories of it. He knew the small houses made out of straw and wood. The scary and wonderful traditions they followed. The scantily clothed kids with skin the colour of wet earth. The huge towering trees that inspired respect in the hearts of those who came across them. The rivers. The pockets of streams. The animals and insects and formidable bitbeasts. And the sweetest boy ever named Kieran.

The boy who had thrown himself in danger to save his worthless life.

Except Tyson had never considered his life worthless nor had he known Kieran when he was still a kid. Somehow Tyson knew exactly how the extremely talented Brazilian blader he'd met two years ago had looked when he was six years old. And he also knew his kind parents who were the rulers of the tribe, his favorite hiding spots and every other thing about a young Brazilian boy's lonely life as the only offspring of a tribe chief.

Tyson didn't know how he got these memories but he had a strong hunch of whose they were. As Kieran didn't have any human friends when he was young, they could only have belonged to one entity. His god-awful bitbeast Lonomia Obliqua.

"I'm not against having my shit kicked in," Mike was saying as he chewed on a pack of gummy bears. His best friend dissolved into a fit of laughter and he watched on fondly as Tyson fell off his crutches and landed on the couch still laughing his head off. Mike joined in a second later and the tirade went on for another whole minute till Tyson finally wiped a tear of joy from his eye and quieted.

"Ah what'll I do without you, Mikey?"

"I donno" Mike tossed a gummy bear to Tyson who caught it with his mouth and sat back smugly. "I see you didn't lose your skills in the accident."

"Heh"

"When is your boyfriend gonna ninja in through the window?" He asked very casually and Tyson proceeded to promptly choke on the candy.

"Noh muh bofren," he managed to say as he unscrewed a bottle of water and chugged it down.

"I thought you said you kissed him?"

"I did" Tyson cleared his throat and placed the bottle on the worn out coffee table before him. "But it wasn't like a…" he paused to think of the proper word. "It wasn't that sort of a kiss," he said finally and then nodded in affirmation.

"There are different types of kisses now?" Michael gave him a look.

"Yeah, you didn't know?" He held his hand out for another gummy bear.

Mike asked him to explain as he gave up the whole pack of chewy candy to Tyson and stretched out on the bed.

Tyson snorted, then popped a yellow and green one into his mouth. "It wasn't a romantic kiss, you asshole, it was more like a I-need-all-the-affection-you-are-capable-of-giving-me-right-now kiss." He thought about his wording for a second and then nodded again. "Like a bro kiss."

"A bro kiss?" Mike teased.

"Yep"

"You want a bro kiss from me?" Mike offered generously.

"No" Tyson rejected with a grin.

The minute hand struck twelve at the same time there came a knock on the window. Tyson twisted around to watch with mild fascination as Kai made a small leap and neatly rolled into the room through the open window. "I swear this will never get old," he commented as Kai drew himself to his feet and shook the leaves out of his hair. "Hi" Tyson greeted cheerfully.

Kai glanced up and met his eyes. "Hi" he replied with the ghost of a smile on his lips, adjusting the collar of his black turtleneck. The change of attire was such a refreshing sight Tyson sat there and drank him in for one long beat. "I see Hiro's been doing his job again," Kai remarked, gesturing toward the chair that was situated across the couch in a confrontational manner. "He never disappoints."

Tyson chuckled and offered it to him, "Sit."

Kai hesitated for a moment, rubbing the palms of his hands against the sides of his hips before repositioning the chair and sitting down.

"He came in today afternoon and asked me about that place again. I'd love to say I don't get why he's obsessed with it but I do."

"That moron thinks Brooklyn's still alive."

Tyson gave Kai a sideways look at his colourful choice of words for his brother and felt his lips twitch up at the expression of scorn painted on Kai's face. "It's not just that. Hiro has always been passionate about things related to beyblade and this is something huge for him."

"That's still no excuse for the way he's been behaving with you," Kai argued.

Tyson pinched the inside of his elbow as he considered the other boy. "You're right," he said eventually. "But I'm used to it." He kicked his good leg up to join the broken one he'd propped on the coffee table and sank back into the couch a bit. "He's always been like that."

"High time he got checked in for anger issues," Kai said with a shake of his head.

"Shut up, Kai," Tyson chided, chucking a cushion at him. It missed his face as Kai caught the cushion and set it on his lap. "You're being mean."

They stared at each other for a moment, the quietness blanketing them exaggerating every move, every breath, before Tyson broke the silence by speaking again. "I wanted to talk to you about last night," he began, taking his feet off the table and sitting upright, anticipating an awkward conversation ahead. "I mean, that must have looked really weird to you." He laughed to ward off the tension. "The least I can do is give you an explanation for the way I-"

"You don't have to," interrupted Kai.

"But I want to," assured Tyson, gaze intent on irises the shade of the sky at dawn. "You need to hear this." Kai seemed like he wanted to argue but he chose to close his mouth instead, rearranging his grip on the cushion. "Do you remember my match against Kieran?"

Kai nodded.

"Yeah, well, then you must know that I lost my memories from that night and the night before. I don't know how or why, may be it has something to do with the accident but I…remember everything now."

"Really?" breathed Kai.

"Yeah! Like the things I forgot….the match, how tense Kieran was and all the things he told me about his father and his bit beast and," he paused to look up at Kai as he recalled the rest of the events from the night he talked to Kieran. "You," he said slowly. "Setting your blade on me."

"I wasn't-" Kai began but Tyson cut him off.

"I know, I know, you weren't aiming for me. You wanted to hit Kieran." He rolled his eyes and then immediately stopped when he reminded himself of the reason behind Kai's anger and was suddenly plagued by guilt. "You were having hallucinations around that time, weren't you?" he asked softly as he regarded the other boy who held his gaze for a beat before glancing away at the expression on Tyson's face, lips thin.

Tyson looked at Kai and wondered how difficult it must have had been for Kai to go through all of that alone. "Why didn't you reach out to someone back then?" Kai refused to meet his eyes, fingers interlocked tightly. "You were going through so much and you didn't tell anyone about it till it was all over. You could have at least told me." He scooted forward trying to get Kai to look at him. "I could have helped," he said feeling all kinds of regret and sadness. "I could have been there for you back then the way you were there for me last night." At that, Kai finally raised his head and Tyson felt the change in the air. The kiss. The way he'd pulled the boy in like he had any right to. Like he could take what he wanted and not worry about hurting his feelings because he didn't have any. Because he'd hurt Tyson multiple times and that gave him the wrong sense of a right to hurt him back. But Tyson knew that wasn't right. He shouldn't take things from Kai when he wasn't planning to give anything in return.

"I'm glad you showed up. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't," Tyson said to Kai. "One minute I was asleep and the next it was like I was back in the arena with..." He paused, struggling to describe the pain to Kai. "I don't know what happened. I'd won. I was already starting to celebrate but then all of a sudden this…thing just crashed into me and…." Tyson shuddered, recalling the sensation of needles piercing through his skin. "There was so much pain. I was in so much pain and I didn't know how to handle it. It was like everything was hitting me at once and…" he sighed, pressing his lips together and shrugging with open palms. "You know the rest."

A slight crinkle marred Kai's brow and his gaze darted all over Tyson, taking in his frame, making sure he was okay. Tyson smiled, fisting his t shirt with one hand, feeling slightly naked under his scrutiny. He opened his mouth, about to tell Kai that he hadn't meant the kiss when a weight in his lungs stopped him short and an unreasonable pang went through him. Kai's periwinkle irises met his and for a wild moment Tyson felt like Kai knew. Like he had always known things about Tyson.

He dragged in a breath and told him, with an unsettling sense that he was making a mistake. "I'm really really thankful that you were there for me last night but at the same time I shouldn't have taken advantage of you." There. He said it. Tyson swallowed as Kai's eyebrows jumped up.

"Taken advantage of me?" Kai asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Tyson gulped again. "I shouldn't have kissed you." Kai's gaze was unreadable. "And given you the wrong impression."

"Wrong impression" Kai repeated.

Tyson felt like his throat was clogging up so he cleared it. "Yeah I'm not interested in you. Not like that. Not anymore." Kai straightened his spine and sat back in the chair, body tense. "It was just in that moment, I…needed it," he finished his sentence with his voice slightly breaking at the end. "But I shouldn't have done that. I really shouldn't have." He looked at Kai, his heart in his throat for some reason. For a split second he wanted to take his words back and he didn't know why, because he truly hadn't meant the kiss but the look in Kai's eyes bordered on hurt and he didn't like that he'd put it there. It was gone as soon as it came, along with the vulnerability in Kai's face.

"I'm sorry" said Tyson.

"It's alright," Kai assured him with a shake of his head, voice perfectly composed and collected. "I don't mind and you weren't taking advantage of me," he added with a dry laugh.

Tyson wondered why he felt like such an asshole. It wasn't as though he hadn't rejected people before. Hell, he wasn't even rejecting Kai. The boy hadn't even reciprocated when Tyson had kissed him last night. He'd only gone still and rigid and let Tyson selfishly take everything Kai was willing to give him.

May be he felt bad because they had history. He remembered the beybattles. The silly bickering and the little kisses. The hand holdings and cuddles. The way Kai had been the first person he wanted to tell when something happened. The way Kai had always listened even though he pretended to be annoyed. The way they had used to gravitate toward each other in a room full of friends and family.

But Tyson was not in love with Kai anymore. He was no longer his number one. Or the first person he ran to whenever he had something exciting to share. They weren't the same two people who had bladed together once. They didn't have what they once had with each other either. When they'd kissed last night the chemistry that had kept drawing them back together each time they went their separate ways for all these years had been absent. And may be the slight pang he felt in his heart now was because the 16 year old Tyson who still existed somewhere deep within him was sad that he and Kai were well and truly over.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Tyson asked as he got up and moved to the mini fridge against the opposite wall with the help of his crutches.

He heard a heavy sigh and the scrap of chair against the floor as Kai rubbed his face with his palms and stood. "No" he answered.

Tyson chalked up the flurry of excitement he'd felt in his belly when Kai had run his hand through Tyson's gown in the hospital and every other incident that had stirred up a similar reaction in him while he was still in the hospital to side effects of the leftover morphine in his system. Because if there was any chemistry left between them even now it should have made him feel a lot more than just relief when he'd kissed Kai the night before. And just to prove it to himself Tyson let his eyes look when Kai stretched and his shirt rode up to reveal a sliver of the smooth, milky skin that hugged the side of his waist and the dip above his left hip that travelled into the front of his jeans.

Nope. Nothing there.

Tyson released the breath he had been holding as Kai relaxed and the shirt fell back into place. He took a bottle of banana milk from the fridge and bumped it closed with his crutch. "Damn, it really sucks not being able to walk properly."

"Two weeks more, Tyson," Kai said as he leaned on the window. "Two weeks and you can start walking without help again. Hang in there."

"Mmm but like," Tyson talked as he hobbled over. "I am sick of being helpless. I'm pretty sure my friends would wait hand and foot on me if I didn't yell at them every time they tried to assist me but yelling gets exhausting after a while. It's hard to yell." He finally made it to the window and balanced the crutches against the adjacent wall before hauling his ass on to the sill and getting comfortable next to Kai. It took some wiggling as one of his hands were occupied by the drink. "Whew" he exhaled after he was all settled and glanced up to find a bemused Kai staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing" Kai looked away.

"Do you want banana milk?" Tyson offered the same bottle Kai had seen him slobber over like a dumbass. Kai declined and Tyson sealed his lips around the mouth of the bottle and downed three fourth of it in one go. "You must think I'm such a sissy," he said after he'd wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

Kai turned around to face him, leaning his back on the pane, a question in his eyes.

"Lily-livered," Tyson said with self derision in his tone. "How many times have you seen me cry now? Oh forget crying, how many times have you seen me bawl my eyes out? I bet you think I'm weak as fuck."

Kai smirked. "If I thought that I wouldn't be here right now," he said lowly, gaze hooded. He was practically glowing in the moonlight tonight. The black of his attire bringing out the colors of his eyes and skin.

Tyson considered him for a moment before breaking into a grin. "You have a weird way of complimenting people."

Kai snorted. "I try"

Tyson aimed a good-natured kick at his rear and Kai got pissed.

"Unless you want me to break your other leg you better not kick me again," he threatened and so Tyson kicked him again, harder this time. Kai grabbed hold of his foot before he could move it out of his way and when Tyson tried to wrestle his leg free, he clamped down on his calf and twisted both hands in opposite direction to warn him. "Don't fucking tempt me."

Tyson growled, feigning anger, but there was a full grin splitting his face in half. "Let go of my leg or I'll pour banana milk on you, Kai. I don't care about your Armanis."

"Is that a dare?" he asked, tightening his grip on Tyson's leg and dragging him closer, almost tipping him out the window.

Tyson cried out in surprise. "Aaargh I almost died, you jerk." He steadied himself using Kai's shoulders, the bottle positioned in a way that threatened to spill all its contents on Kai's beautiful black designer clothes. "I swear to god, Kai," he said at the same time as Kai gritted out, "I swear to god, Tyson."

This gave them pause and they took in each other for a moment before Tyson burst into a grin that was so happy Kai smiled back at him.

Tyson faltered at the sight, his heart skipping a beat at the way Kai's eyes crinkled and his lips curved around his teeth. He was tempted to cup his face with his hands and almost gave in before the grin fell and Kai took a look at Tyson's expression. All of a sudden he seemed way too close and not close enough at once. Tyson's hands curled not knowing whether to pull him in or push him away, the way they had two years ago when Kai had first kissed him in the training room. But Kai dropped Tyson's leg and stepped away, making the decision for him.

Tyson ground his teeth together in frustration before letting it go in favor of talking to Kai about the memories he'd acquired from Kieran's bitbeast.

"The custom-built blades don't give you new powers, they enhance the power you already have."

"So if Tala could create a tiny island of snow earlier, he can freeze an entire continent if he wanted to now?"

"Correct"

"I'm scared"

Kai rolled his eyes at the conversation Matsuda was having with Kenny and ordered them to seal the dome. They were at the construction site of the new arena. The stadium was designed by Kenny and the construction undertaken by a world class company. Fashioned in the shape of an oblate spheroid, the stadium could seat 44,000 with 16 air conditioned lounges standing five floors above ground and two below. From its center rose a transparent shatterproof glass dome wherein the matches were going to be held. As of now, there was a blader inside on standby, ready to launch his blade on cue.

The great glass dome was sealed from all sides and Kai gave the instruction for launch. The blader let it rip from where he stood on a platform at the height of fifty meters and the blade that was custom built for speed barreled to the opposite wall of the dome at a speed of a bullet fired from a gun. The beyblade struck the glass and Kenny measured the impact attributes as the blade bounced off and landed a few meters above and continued its journey upward and around. "It holds" exclaimed Kenny, clapping and jumping like an excited puppy.

Kai didn't let it faze him. "Do it again. With more power and bring in Tala. Let's see how well it can take an attack at minus fifty degrees."

"Yes, Kai-sama," Kenny grumbled out before he could catch himself and then he slapped a hand across his mouth, completely dumbfounded. "I meant Kai. Kai."

Kenny flushed with embarrassment but Kai never noticed, mind preoccupied with something else.

Wolborg Z spun a blizzard into existence, freezing the entire 50 diameter dome under 3 seconds. Tala gave the cue and the first blader atop the opposite platform unleashed an attack on the rotund enclosing, his beyblade clashing with the thick laminated glass with a great thud. The blade bounded back, straight into its wielder's awaiting palm.

"Hmm" Kenny observed out loud. "The dome can withstand a blade fired at fifty thousand rpm at a temperate of minus forty nine degrees, but we still don't know its limit."

"R and D claimed much higher than that for sure," replied Kai.

"The dome can withstand attacks from any beyblade, Kai-sama," reiterated Matsuda, the head of R&D. "The highest acceleration ever recorded for a beyblade was Dragoon G launched by Tyson Granger, three years ago, at the last world championship held by the BBA, at ninety thousand rpm." A muscle ticked in Kai's jaw as he clenched his teeth. "I can assure you that the dome can hold against his best attack."

"Um" began Kenny, "while you're not technically wrong about that, Matsuda-kun, Tyson Granger is not the only one who has reached that number before."

"Who else has reached that number?" Matsuda asked Kenny with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Kenny pointedly looked towards a pissed Kai and Matsuda's jaw dropped further. "Really?" he mouthed in awe, giving his boss a once-over.

"Could you excuse us for a moment, Matsuda?" Kai asked with fake politeness, snapping the employee out of his stupor.

"Oh! I'll leave!" He bowed once and scurried away.

Kai turned toward Kenny with a sigh, and the latter immediately put his hands up. "I was only stating facts."

"Did you have to do that?"

"Come on, Kai. It's true. Stop being so uptight about it. You used to be proud of these things."

"Shut up, you sound like Tyson."

"A wise man once said-"

"I don't want to hear it."

Kenny exhaled, smiling wryly before speaking in a more serious tone. "You're one of the best bladers the world has ever seen, Kai. And I know that you only managed to achieve the things you did because you were passionate about beyblade in a way most players who play the sport aren't." Kai glanced away, gritting his teeth. "If you want to know how well the dome holds against the best attack, climb up there and see for yourself," challenged Kenny, producing Kai's blade from his pocket and offering it to him on his open palm. The former Dranzer-wielder gasped softly when he saw the beyblade that was made for him. It lay on his palm, finished in sleek red and black, flames licking along its sides. "Because it doesn't get any better than you."

A/N: Eh hello? its been ages i know but college has been kicking my ass lately. ill try not to disqppear like that again. Thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed. Take care. see you soon. leave a comment if you want to let me know what you think. Byeeee