Title: Long Time No See

By: Moonlit Sea

Disclaimer: Do not own Beyblade or any of its characters (except for Sam, Kate & Ben).

A/N: I was planning to make this the last chapter but I've got more to wrap up than I thought. Oh and just a little note to say I'm not very good at writing action scenes (or Beyblade matches whichever you'd like to call it) so I hope it comes out okay.

/-Thoughts-/
#Bit-Beast talking#

Chapter 12 - Together Again… At Last.

It was about eight in the evening when Kathryn finally got up off the floor. /-I must off fallen asleep-/ she thought. She looked around and saw no sign of Adam to which she was grateful and slowly headed towards the bathroom to inspect the 'damage' that had been done.
She looked in the mirror and was relived to see that there were no marks on her cheeks, she then looked down at her arms and was sadden when she saw all the bruises Adam's hands had made. She couldn't stay here anymore she had to get out for if she stayed it would be certain death especially when Adam would find out about Kai and Sam for they would surely get back together it was just a matter of time.
The question was where was she to go? Wherever she would go Adam would surely find her, she needed to go somewhere where she knew she would be safe, where people would protect her. Suddenly it hit her.

"Tyson." She said knowing exactly what she had to do.

She packed her things and went down to reception to pay for her half of the room, after receiving strange looks from the staff at her unusual request she left the hotel in search of the only person she believed could help her.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

Tyson's place -

"Guys I'm getting worried about Sam. It's getting late and she's still not back yet." Ray says looking out the window.

"I'm sure she's fine Ray." Tyson replies trying hard not to lose his concentration.

"You didn't see the look on her face when she saw Kai and Kathryn. I'm afraid she might go and do something stupid."

"Ray has a point." Kenny says looking up from his laptop. "From what you guys have told me she's liable to do anything. I doubt she'll be able to think straight."

"Like Tyson during a Beyblade match." Dizzi comments.

"Hey!" Tyson said a little offended turning towards Kenny and Dizzi, which in turn broke his concentration from the video game he was playing with Max.

"Yes!" Max suddenly says triumphantly. "You lose Tyson."

"What?" Tyson says in disbelief turning back to face Max "No fair, if it weren't for Dizzi I would've won!"

"Face it Tyson you were losing badly." Max retaliates.

"I so was not!"

"You so were!"

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Was not."

"Were too."

Ray and Kenny looked at each other and sighed. It was a good thing Kate and Ben were sleeping in another room.

"Will you two stop arguing you're driving me nuts." A voice said from the doorway.

Tyson and Max were so caught up in their argument that they failed to here the voice. Kenny and Ray heard it however and were pleasantly surprised to see Kai and Sam standing in the doorway, Kai had his arms around Sam's waist and she was leaning into him. Signalling that they had patched up whatever problems they had and were now back together.

Ray smiled but his smile soon faded when he heard Sam say.
"Ray can I talk to you for a second please."

"Sure." Walking over to her.

Sam looked up at Kai.
"You know you have to let me go now." She said.

"And why would I want to do that?" pulling her closer to him.

"Because I asked you to." She replied.

"And why should I listen to you?"

Sam gave him a quick kiss.
"That's why."

As Ray watched their interaction he wondered what Sam wanted to talk about. They seemed happy enough or was that just it they seemed happy but were they? Was she?

Kai reluctantly let go and Ray followed Sam out of the room. Kai smiled as he walked further into the room.

"Well it took you both long enough." A familiar voice said.

Kai turn in the direction of the voice to see Tyson and Max -who had both stopped arguing to see what was going on- looking at him.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Ray asks as Sam closes the door to the room they were in.

She sighs and looks at him hoping she didn't have to say it.

"You're having doubts aren't you." He finally says.

She nods and heads towards the window.

"But why? Isn't this what you wanted?" he asks.

Sam shrugs.

"Sam I'm not a mind reader. You have to tell me what's wrong."

"I'm having doubts Ray, isn't that enough." She finally answers.

"That doesn't explain why."

"If I knew why we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"No, we'd be having a different one." He states.

She nods then turns to him.
"I feel like I'm at war with myself Ray." She says solemnly "Half of me's happy and overjoyed to be back with Kai but the other half…"

"Isn't."

"Right and I have no idea why."

"Could it be that you're scared he's going to disappear one day or maybe go off with someone else." Ray offered.

Sam looked down at the ground then turned back to the window, which gave Ray his answer. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder gently turning her back towards him.

"Sam all you have to do is look in his eyes to see how much he loves you."

"I'm afraid Ray."

"Of what?"

"That one day I'll look into his eyes and see he no longer loves me." Her voice was starting to crackle.

"I'm sure that will never happen." He states.

"But how can you be so sure?"

"Sam anyone can see that Kai thinks the world of you." He answers wiping her tears away "He'd do anything to keep you happy."

"Really?"

"Really."

She smiles.
"Thanks Ray."

"Hey, anytime you need to talk I'm always here."

Sam nods and they go back to join the others.

The next morning Kate goes to her mum and gently shakes her to wake her up.

"Mum?" she says quietly seeing her brother and Tyson still asleep.

"Mum?" she says a little louder.

"What is it Kate?" a sleepy Sam asks as she yawns.

"Will you and Dad ever get back together?"

Although surprised by her daughter's question Sam smiled.
"We'll see." She answered knowing that they were already together. "Where is your father anyway?" not seeing Kai anywhere.

"I don't know he was gone when I woke up. So was Ray."

"What about Max and the Chief?" also seeing them nowhere in sight.

"They're outside."

"What time is it?"

#Ten thirty. I tried to get you up sooner but you ignored me as usual.# Moonstar answered

Sam was surprised that Moonstar was still talking to her after what she did yesterday.

"Guess I better get up." Sam says stretching.

"What about Ben and Tyson?" Kate asks.

"Let them sleep."

Kate nods and goes back outside.

When Sam walks outside the sun is shining brightly and it's a beautiful warm sunny day. She sees Max, Kate and Kenny and goes over to them just narrowly avoiding getting hit by a flying Beyblade.

"What are you guys trying to do? Kill me?" she jokes as she walks up to them.

They all give her confused looks.

"What are you talking about Sam?" Kenny asks.

"That 'flying' Beyblade, you mean it wasn't any of you."

They all shake their heads.

"Hey Mum, I bet Starry can beat Moonstar." Kate suddenly says changing the subject.

Sam chuckles.
"Oh you think so do you. Well we'll just have to see about that."

"I wouldn't hold back on her just because she's a kid." Max advices.

"Huh?"

"She beat Max earlier this morning." Kenny explains.

"Now I find that hard to believe." Sam says.

"It's true, she totally surprised me."

"Hey like mother like daughter." She joked referring to the training match she had with him to which she won.

"Mum are you coming or not?" Kate asks impatiently.

Sam rolls her eyes.
"Chief I don't know what you and Max did but you've created a monster." She jokes and walks over to Kate.

Max chuckles and Kenny just looks confused.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

"Hey Ray what about this one?" Kai asks as he points to an item in the shop window.

"No Kai I don't think she'd like that." Ray answered after about a minute of looking to see where Kai was pointing.

Kai sighed.
"This is turning out to be harder than I thought."

Ray gave a small laugh.
"I'm sure you'll find something Kai. You just have to keep looking."

They were in the town looking for a 'special present' that Kai wanted to give Sam. He'd gone to Ray earlier that morning telling him what he planning to do and whether or not Ray would help. When asked 'Why me?' he simply replied 'Because you know Sam better than anyone.' Ray had agreed and now they were looking all over town so far they'd looked at ten or twelve shops with no luck.

"Hey Kai." Ray said walking over to another store "She'd like that."

Kai looked into the window and saw what Ray was pointing at.
"Are you sure?"

"Yea she's got a thing about animals, probably the reason she's dating one." Ray joked.

"Very funny Ray."

"Well… aren't you going to get it?" he asks turning to Kai.

"Are you sure she'll like it." Kai asked again wanting to make sure Ray wasn't just playing around.

"Yes, now go get it." He answered pushing Kai a little towards the door.

"Ray." Kai said a little angrily.

"Yea Kai."

"You're lucky I need you for this or you'd be dead right now." He answers walking into the shop.

Ray chuckles and smiles to himself. He knew that which was why he was pushing his luck so much. As he waited for Kai to come out of the store he thinks about how surprised Sam would be when she got her 'surprise'. He then spots a familiar face across the street.

/-Is that Kathryn? She looks terrible wonder what happened.-/
He was about to go over when Kai came out of the shop carrying… nothing?

"Didn't you get it?" Ray asks.

Kai nods.

"Then where is it?"

"Here." He pats his pocket lightly "You don't really expect me to carry it all over town do you." He asks rhetorically.

"And ruin your hard man image?" Ray joked once again.

Kai growled he was getting really sick of Ray's jokes. Suddenly a thought came into his mind and he smiled.

"Now that I've got what I came for I don't need you anymore." He said smugly.

Alarm bells began to ring in Ray's head and he decided to change the subject before he became part of the pavement.

"Isn't that Kathryn over there?"

Kai looked over and saw that it was Kathryn /-what's she doing here?-/

"She looks really run down wonder what's wrong?"

"Who cares." Kai replied.

"That's not very nice Kai."

Kai shrugs.

"Let's go see what's wrong." Ray says.

"Why should we?" Kai says.

"Because if we don't, I don't think Sam will ever forgive you or me."

Reluctantly Kai agreed and they walked over to Kathryn who now had her back to them.

"Kathryn." Ray says making her jump at the sound of his voice.

She slowly turns round and was relived to see Ray and Kai… well Ray anyway, it appeared Kai was still mad at her.

"Hey." she greets.

"What are you doing with a jacket on in this gorgeous weather, you must be boiling."

"Uh… boiling? N-no not really." She lied " I take it he's still mad at me." Referring to Kai.

"Don't worry about him. He's just b… ouch!" Ray said feeling a sudden pain in his foot. He looked over at Kai to see a satisfactory grin on his face.

/-And I thought Tyson had a big mouth.-/ Kai thought.
"Glad that Sam and I are back together, no thanks to you." He said roughly finishing off Ray's sentence.

"I guess I deserve that. Listen Kai I wasn't trying to interfere with both of you or anything."

"Coulda fooled me."

"Anyway I'm glad you and Sam are back together." She smiles.

"You are?" Ray and Kai say in shocked unison.

"Yeah you both suit each other."

"But aren't you working with Adam to keep them both apart?" Ray asks still a little amazed.

"I never want to see Adam again." Kathryn answers. "I've… I've left him. He's on his own now."

"What brought this on?" Kai asks.

"Let's just say I've seen the light as it were."

"So where are you going?" Ray asked.

/-What shall I tell them? Shall I tell them the truth? But will they believe me? And what if I scare them away?-/ all these questions floated around her mind and she found herself saying.
"I don't know really. I guess I was going to wonder round until an idea hit me."

"Well I'm sure Tyson wouldn't mind having an extra guest even if you don't belong to the team." Ray reasons.

Kai couldn't help but notice that Kathryn's eyes lit up at the mention of Tyson's name.
/-What's she planning?-/ Kai wondered.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

Tyson's place -

"Come on, Mum you can beat him." Kate and Ben shout.

"Don't let your guard down Tyson." Max advices.

After half an hour of Kate and Ben whinging that they wanted to see Sam and Tyson battle, Tyson finally gave in.
Although he had to do a little begging himself as Sam was being unco-operative but he managed to win her over in the end. And now here they were battling each other once again just like ten years before but this time Tyson had a slight advantage unlike Sam he had still trained, created new strategies and so on. Or at least that's what he thought little did he know that Sam had her own little 'advantage'.

"Dragoon Hyper Victory Tornado."

"She's gone." Kenny said.

"Yep." Max agreed.

They had yet to meet someone who could stand up to Dragoon's Hyper Victory Tornado attack, and to their amazement Moonstar was still spinning in the same spot.

"No way!" Max said amazed.

"H-how can that be?" Tyson wondered "No ones ever been able to stand up against Dragoon's attack."

"Then I guess you just met that someone." Sam said a smile appearing on her face. "Kate may have had my blade but that doesn't mean I haven't been practicing. Allow me to demonstrate."

"Chief how's Moonstar being able to stay still like that?" Max asks.

"To be honest Max I don't know. Dizzi got any answers?"

"Sorry Chief I'm as clueless as you." Dizzi answers.

"I hope you like your Dragoon deep fried Tyson because that's exactly what your gonna get… Moonstar!"

Moonstar came out her blade to face Dragoon.

"Fire blade twister." Sam said coldly and calmly.

As everyone watched Dragoon's 'tornado' turn into fire then it started throwing blades of fire at him.
Tyson looked at Sam and saw the same coldness and harshness he did when battling her ten years earlier. Sam was no longer blading in a friendly match/way she was playing for real.

/-I gotta snap her out of this or Dragoon's history.-/ he thought.

"Sam…" he shouted, "You gotta snap out of it."

Max turned to Kenny.
"What's he talking about?"

Kenny shrugged.

"Guys I believe I've found out what's wrong." Dizzi informs, "Take a look at this picture taken when Sam battled Tyson the first time we all met, now take a look at this one taken a few moments ago." Placing the pictures side by side.

"I don't see it." Max says.

"Her facial expressions are exactly the same! Max she's no longer blading in a friendly way she's blading for real." Kenny explains his voice showing his horror.

"In a word… bingo." Dizzi said.

"But if she's blading for real that means that… she's gonna destroy Dragoon!" Max says in sheer horror.

"We've got to stop her." Kenny says urgently.

"Right."

After Kenny laid Dizzi on the ground they both went towards Sam but didn't get a chance to do anything as she pushes them away, they both landed on the ground.
At that moment Ray, Kai and Kathryn walked in and saw the way Sam shoved Max and Kenny aside.

"What's going on?" Ray asked as he helped Max up.

"Sam's gonna destroy Dragoon!" Kenny answered.

"What?" they all say in unison.

They look over and saw Tyson desperately trying to get Sam to stop. While Kate and Ben were still cheering their mother on not knowing how serious the situation was.

"Ray I want you to get the children out of here." Kai suddenly says.

"Right." He replied rushing over to Kate and Ben.

Seeing the trouble Ray was having with them Kathryn decided to go over and help.
"I'm going to help him."

Kai gave a nod as Kathryn rushed over to Ray.

"Kai, what are you planning to do?" Max asked.

"The only thing I know how." He answered as he looked down at Dranzer.

As if reading his thoughts Dranzer glowed to agree and Kai put her on his launcher and aimed it in Sam's direction.