A/N: May have accidentally uploaded 2 chapters in one... oops! :')

Kai.

I'm sure by now you've heard of my release.

It's been a long time since I've seen you, my Grandson, come by the mansion in Bey City so we can catch up.

Feel free to bring your teammates.

Voltaire Hiwatari.

I screwed up the letter and threw it across the room in anger; how dare he contact me after everything he had done! Leaning against the headboard, I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. I wanted nothing more than for all of this to go away, I was finally starting to feel happy, to feel normal, like a human being; not some emotionless bastard who craved power and destroyed everything in their way to achieve it. A soft knock on the door signalled that someone was outside.

"Kai? Can I come in?" Ray called.

I sighed. "Yeah."

The door opened and Ray slipped inside, closing the door behind him; just as he was about to come over to me, he spotted the crumpled letter on the floor.

He bent down and picked it up. "May I?" He asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. "Go ahead."

The Tiger sat down beside me and smoothed out the paper, his eyes running over the words in mere seconds.

"What does he want?" He glanced at me.

I shrugged again. "Hn."

Ray turned to face me completely. "Are you going to go?"

"Hn." I grunted.

This seemed to annoy him. "Kai, please don't shut yourself away from me." He frowned.

I didn't reply, I wasn't sure what to say. All I knew was that there was a chance Ray could get hurt from this, and so could the others; I needed a way to keep them from getting involved.

Ray rested a hand on my thigh. "We'll go with you if you do."

"No." I put my mask on. "I don't want you, or Tyson, or anyone for that matter getting involved in my personal business."

His face turned to one of pure shock. "You don't mean that."

"I do, I'm sick and tired of being weak around you all." I stood up from the bed. "I'm the Captain of this team, I do not need to be looked after like a baby!"

Ray stood up too, anger on his face. "I'm not the one who broke down in floods of tears and confessed my love for you!"

"I was weak and confused, I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me!" I raised my voice.

His pupils slit. "Do you regret it? Do you regret falling for another man? Do you regret the fact that I fell for you too?" The raven-haired teen began to shout. "Do you regret that I took your virginity? Because last night sounded like you enjoyed every fucking minute of it!"

I flinched, noticing the bedroom door had been swung open, Max and Tyson were standing there in shock. I took one last look at Ray, who was glaring at me with such venom; he was hurting, and I was the cause of it. I had to do it, he could suffer much worse at the hands of my Grandfather.

"Your silence says everything Kai." Ray spat.

He threw the letter at me and stormed off, shouldering past the younger teens in the doorway.

Tyson turned back to me. "What the fuck Kai?" He looked extremely concerned.

I could feel him trying to read my emotions. "Don't you fucking dare Tyson."

"But I don't understand you! One minute you're madly in love with Ray, the next you're waving him off like he was a one-night stand!" Tyson growled.

I clenched my fists. "It's not like that!"

"Well then enlighten me Kai, why did you say those things?!" He shouted.

"Because eventually someone is going to get hurt!" I all but screamed.

The navy-haired teen waved his arms. "What on earth is that supposed to mean?!"

"Either you guys will get hurt, or you'll end up hurting me… It's the way it's always been." I lowered my head, covering my eyes with my bangs.

Max sighed. "Guys, I think we should cool it, arguing clearly isn't getting us anywhere."

"You're right Max, evidently Kai has a fucked up way of dealing with his issues." Tyson walked out of the room with Max in tow.

I looked up at the door as it slammed shut. "I'm so sorry."

Early the next morning I woke in my own bed, feeling cold and alone; I glanced at the other bed, Ray was still asleep with his back facing me. I sat up and rubbed my sore knees, Tyson's Grandfather had heard the argument between us and forced us to kneel in his Dojo to give us a lecture. He had expressed his dislike to our swearing, saying we should be more respectful towards one another, then he had rounded on Ray and me. Apparently, he was extremely unhappy to find out that we had slept together, not because we were both guys, but because we were under 18 and living under his roof. He instructed Tyson and Max to kneel there for two hours, whereas me and Ray were to sit there for the rest of the evening. The silence had been deafening, when Tyson's Grandfather came to tell us to go to bed, Ray had stood and gone up without even a glance to me. Sighing, I slipped out of bed and dressed myself, careful not to wake the sleeping Neko-jin; I looked at him again, heart yearning to jump into bed with him, to feel his arms around me. Shaking my head, I grabbed my Beyblade and launcher, slipping them into my jacket pocket. I approached the raven-haired teens bed, reaching out slowly to touch him; his slow and heavy breathing indicated he was still asleep.

I leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, but I've got to do this alone. I love you." I whispered.

I pulled away and walked quietly to the window, opening it silently with ease; I hooked a leg out and stole one last glance to Ray, before exiting the room completely and jumping down to the ground.

Ray's POV.

I sat up in bed as soon as I heard the thud, my breath hitching at what he had said to me. Throwing the covers off myself, I dashed to Tyson and Max's room, pounding on Kenny's door on the way.

I threw open the door to the younger teen's room. "I was right, he's going to see Voltaire!"

They both bolted upright.

"Well then we've got to follow him!" Tyson smirked.

Max was already getting dressed. "What are you waiting for?!"

I leaped out of their room. "Chief! Get dressed, we're following Kai!" I hollered at him as I ran past.

Within minutes I was dressed, waiting impatiently at the front door for the others; they ran down the stairs, eager for an adventure again.

"Come on, I know where the mansion is." I led the way out of the house.

Kenny was holding onto his laptop tightly. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Kai's gone to see Voltaire, he received a letter from him yesterday inviting him over. We were invited too, but it seems Kai wanted to go alone; I guess that's why he was being such a wanker last night." I explained.

Tyson snorted. "Sounds just like Kai."

"I'm gonna kill him when I see him." I growled.

Even though last night was clearly a rouse to prevent us from going, I was still really pissed at him; that and my poor knees were aching from our punishment from Tyson's Grandpa.

Max chuckled. "I don't want to be Kai's shoes right now."

Silence fell between us as we walked through the streets of Bey City, my mind wondered through the possible reasons that Voltaire would want with his Grandson. We all knew the man was insane, he had brainwashed Kai a few years ago into using Black Dranzer to steal our Bitbeasts so he could take over the world. His plan had failed when we confronted Kai on the ice of Lake Baikal, convincing him that we were his friends and that he didn't need power to be happy. Other than that, I didn't know anything else about the man; Kai never spoke about him or his past, but from what I could gather, his childhood can't have been great. Then there was Boris; Voltaire's right-hand man, he'd reappeared last year claiming to have changed for the better, creating BEGA and challenging Tyson. Kai had joined BEGA in the hopes of facing against Tyson again, but he was eliminated from the team when Brooklyn defeated him; I shuddered at the thought of him, he was one of the reasons for Kai's nightmares. I'd often hear the two-tone haired teen mumble that name in his sleep, tossing and turning in his bed until he woke up in a sweat. Boris had disappeared after we defeated his team, no one knew where he had gone, only that he had nothing left. I had a feeling that Boris was behind Voltaire's release, some 'evidence' had cropped up in his favour.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright Ray?" Max asked me.

"I'm fine, still a bit wound up over last night and I want to know what Voltaire wants with Kai." I muttered.

The blonde gave me a sympathetic smile. "I know how you feel, that man gives me the creeps!"

"You can say that again." Tyson grumbled.

The Dragon had his hands shoved in his pockets and was sporting a foul look on his face.

"Are you okay Ty?" I asked.

He glanced at me in surprise. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. I'm just trying to reach out to Kai, to see what he's up to."

"Can you feel anything?" I cocked my head slightly.

He frowned. "Fear."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Why would Kai be feeling fear?"

"I don't know, but I'm starting to get worried." Tyson's frown deepened.

Looking around, I realised where we were. "We're not too far off now, we should pick up the pace."

"Guys, what if Kai's Grandfather just wants to reconcile with him?" Kenny voiced his thoughts. "I mean, maybe doing some time in prison changed him?"

Tyson shook his head. "That man will never change; Boris didn't, and neither will he."

"I agree with Tyson." Max nodded.

I quickened my pace, causing the others to jog slightly to catch up to me. Once again, we fell silent, anxiety nipping at our heels as we speculated at what might happen. I drew in a shuddering breath, wishing that nothing bad was going to happen to Kai, or any of us for that matter.

We rounded a corner and came face to face with some very large gates, the sign next to them read: Hiwatari Mansion. This was the place, and it looked creepy as hell; it loomed over every other house in the neighbourhood, creating a superior aura around it.

"Hey look, there's Kai!" Max pointed out quietly.

We hid at the edges of the gates, peering round so we could see our stubborn Captain ring the doorbell; when the door opened we all gasped.

"Boris!" Tyson exclaimed angrily.

I held my finger up to my lips. "Shh! Wait a minute."

Looking back at the door, I saw Boris welcome Kai with a smile, much like the one he used last year. I wasn't convinced then, and I'm not convinced now; I could see right through that smile, and I hoped that Kai could as well. We watched the older blader enter the mansion and Boris close the doors behind him, I glanced to see Tyson shaking.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

The Dragon was gritting his teeth. "Kai is scared, like I've never known that kind of fear to even exist!"

"He didn't look scared." Max was still looking at the doors.

I sighed. "We all know how good he can be at hiding his emotions." I was really starting to get worried. "Kenny is there any way you can get these gates open?" I motioned to the keypad.

"Yeah, give me a moment." The young boy connected his laptop to the keypad and began to hack it.

A few minutes passed and he disconnected his laptop, the gates swinging open in response; I nodded to him in gratitude and entered the mansion grounds.

"We can't go through the front door." Max pointed out.

I nodded. "We'll find another way in, I'm sure there's a back door or something we can squeeze into."

We skirted around the large house, looking for some kind of way in; most of the doors we came across had been locked shut and hadn't looked like they'd been used in years.

Suddenly Kenny waved his arm at us. "Here!" He called quietly.

Tyson, Max and I hurried over to him, to which he pointed at an open window.

"It's large enough for us to get through." The Chief smiled triumphantly.

I smirked and patted him on the back. "Good job!"

Being the quietest, I went through first to check if the coast was clear inside; I pricked my ears for any sound of movement nearby, when I was happy there was none, I motioned for the rest to follow me.

"Where to now Ray?" Max asked.

Admittedly, I didn't know. "Tyson, I don't suppose you can sense where he is?"

Said blader closed his eyes, concentration dancing across his features; then his eyes snapped open.

"He's in Voltaire's office." His voice was thick with worry.

My heart started to race. "Come on, let's go get him."

I opened the door to exit the room we were in, only to be met with an all too familiar face.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" Boris smirked menacingly.

"Shit." We said in unison.