Aouni: Hi peoples, I'm back!
Ray: Damn, the poison didn't work!
Kai: I told you to use arsenic, but no, you had to use the cleaning detergent instead!
DISCLAIMER: Boy, it feels like I've said this 100 times over. Oh well, here it is again. I DO NOT OWN THEM! This is probably a good thing, now that I think about it…
WARNING: (See First Chapter) – yaoi, fluff, bad words, and no writing talent whatsoever—don't like? Don't read.
Aouni: Just for reference, I thought I'd let you peoples know my opinion on their ages – it never really says their ages in the show, does it? ;)
Kai – seventeen
Ray – sixteen
Tyson, Kenny, Hilary – fifteen (I figure since they're all in the same grade, they're the same age)
Max – fourteen
Yeah, so that's so old they are in this ficcy, which is set two years after v-force (I'm going to have to pretend G-Rev never happened since I've never seen it before – sorry peoples). You don't have to agree with me, it's just my opinion.
Max: Start the fic already – you're putting them to sleep.
Aouni: What?!? I'm not that boring!
..::Chapter Two::..
Kenny sighed and sat down on one of the chairs. He, Kai, Tyson and Hilary were still in the hotel's lobby – and Tyson and Hilary were still arguing. Neither the anxious, fidgeting Chief, nor the stoic, silent Kai had made a move to intervene in Tyson and Hilary's little argument.
In Kenny's case, he was simply sick and tired of having to break up their silly fights all the time, and with Kai – well, no one could really know, but Kenny assumed that either, he didn't care, or he couldn't be bothered with stopping them.
The small brown-haired boy did notice – with some measure of uneasiness – that both Ray and Max were missing. Tyson's earlier words came flashing back briefly,
"Aw, c'mon Chief! I'm telling you, they're really together!"
Kenny shook his head and flipped open his laptop. What he really needed to be doing, was researching on the Spanish champions, whom he still had not collected any data on. He waited for Dizzy to load, while attempting to drown Tyson and Hilary out.
"Tyson, you are so immature! When will you learn to grow up?"
"Yeah? Well, at least I'm not a – a bossy, annoying, nosy … GIRL!"
Kenny sighed, feeling his nerves being grinded to the edge. In the corner of his eye, he caught Kai leave the wall he'd been leaning on, and head upstairs. This ultimately left him to deal the Tyson and Hilary, alone.
"Nosy?!? What do you mean nosy? I'm not nosy!" protested Hilary, indignantly.
"Yes you are! You're always poking into other peoples business!" snapped Tyson.
"Oh yeah? Well so do you!"
"I do not!"
"Will you two be quiet!" shouted Kenny, surprising even himself.
The two of them froze, casting shocked looks at their small friend.
Kenny sighed, again, and forced himself to calm down, "Hilary there was no need to yell at Tyson like that -"
"But -"
Kenny ignored her, "And Tyson, the reason we're can't have supper yet is because Mr. Dickenson wants us to attend a formal banquet this evening, and there'll be lots of food there, okay?"
"Oh boy!" exclaimed Tyson, grinning widely, "Is it an all-you-can-eat? How many courses do they have? Oh! I hope they have those special dinner buns that come with the little butter slices melted on top, and the…"
Hilary and Kenny both groaned.
As if on cue, Ray came trudging from the stairwell, looking much like a ghost who had just returned from his own execution. He smiled weakly, his tone forcefully cheerful, "So, when do we eat?"
Tyson, in all his excitement, did not notice Ray's forced smile, and was all too eager to explain, "We're going to a special banquet!" cried Tyson, emphasizing the word 'special', "I hope we get served lasagna! With that tangy parmesan cheese blend. You know, the one they mix with that Greek cheese? I think they might add some cheddar in it too – or was it swiss?"
Hilary cast Ray a concerned look, "Are you all right, Ray?"
"Huh? Oh fine!" He looked away, "I think I'll just go for a walk, you know, just to get some fresh air."
"Hey, where's Max?" asked Tyson curiously.
Ray flinched, "Uh… He's upstairs, I guess…" He turned and left the room.
Tyson frowned, "What was that all about?" he asked, watching the door slide closed after their friend.
"You don't think they had a fight, do you?" Hilary asked worriedly.
Kenny bit his lip, and tried to ignore the conversation. So maybe Max and Ray were together. He couldn't ruin it if he continued to ignore it. Yes, that's what he had to do, he had to continue to ignore that possibility. He took a quick glance at his watch, "Ahh! Guys, look at the time! The banquet starts soon!" he gasped.
"Great!" said Tyson pumping his fist in the air, "I'll go get Kai!"
Kenny grabbed his shoulder to stop him, "Uh, Kai's not coming."
Tyson whirled around, "What?"
"He said earlier that he didn't feel like going," the Chief explained.
Tyson looked crestfallen, his eyes portraying a look of severe disappointment and – regret, as if he blamed himself.
Kenny shrugged apologetically, "I'm sure it's nothing you did," he said reassuringly, "He probably just doesn't like the crowd, that's all."
"Right," said Tyson, grinning again, it wasn't such a huge grin as before, "We better get going, huh, Chief?" the navy-haired blader glanced around, "Where's Max?"
Hilary was still watching the door Ray had vanished through, "I don't know," she said anxiously, "I'm getting this awful feeling that something bad happened between these two."
"Aw, relax Hilary," said Tyson, waving it off in his usual carefree, unconcerned fashion, "They're just fine," but his eyes showed a hint of doubt.
::-::-::-::-::-::
Their worries were pretty much confirmed when Max came downstairs, looking just as gloomy – if not gloomier – than Ray. The four boys, and Hilary, climbed onto the bus.
"Wow, look at this thing," Tyson exclaimed enthusiastically, trying to lighten the mood, "It's like, the fanciest bus I've ever seen!" He crossed over and sat in one of the velvety seats. He cast a look to the back of the bus almost automatically, knowing that was where Kai would sit. But then he remembered, Kai wasn't there.
Tyson sighed and turned to look out the window at the tall, ten-story hotel. Which window was Kai's room? Or was Kai's room even facing this side? Regardless, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had done something to make his Phoenix mad at him. The elder boy hadn't spoken to him all day. It wasn't typical of Kai to say much, but Tyson still felt that there was something wrong.
He was jerked out of his anxieties by Hilary's frantic, but hushed whisper, "They're not sitting together!"
Tyson cast a look over to his friends, and saw that it was true. Ray and Max were NOT sitting together. Max was sitting beside Kenny, staring out the window, and Ray sat alone, three seats behind them. Something was definitely not right.
They reached the restaurant soon after, and Tyson found himself still attempting to brighten up the mood of the evening, which seemed to be growing steadily gloomier with each passing second. Even his appetite diminished, and the stormy-eyed boy found that he was only able to eat seven courses, instead of ten!
There was a strange silence throughout most of the meal, despite the chattering of other guests around them. Tyson longed for Kai to be there so he could have something to take his mind off the depressing evening. He could secretly lose himself in those crimson eyes, fantasize about running his hands through that silvery-blue hair … drown out Hilary's annoying voice.
"What?" snapped Tyson, finally cracking under the girl's repeated whining, coupled with harsh, painful pokes and elbowing.
"They're haven't said a word to each other!" she hissed, gesturing to Max and Ray.
It was true, although the two now sat next to each other, neither had spoken all evening. The silence was grinding on Tyson's nerves. He was just about ready to jump up and shout at his teammates – what was wrong with them?
However, he before he could make a scene, Mr. Dickenson stood up to make a speech. Immediately the room fell silent, all teams watching the BBA chairman intently.
The short balding man smiled in his usual cheerful manner, but there was something not right about it. He seemed, well, just like the mood of the evening. Depressed.
It made Tyson want to scream – why was everyone so upset? He forced himself not say anything and make a fool of himself, and instead tried to preoccupy himself with other thoughts… Like Kai. But that only brought back previous anxieties. Kai had ignored him all day.
"It's great to see you kids all having fun," began Mr. Dickenson after clearing his throat softly. Tyson rolled his eyes at the statement. He had no idea about the other teams, but the Bladebreakers were definitely not having fun.
"I have called you all hear this evening to make a special announcement."
Hilary perked up curiously and Kenny looked up from his laptop. A few whispers could be heard throughout the room, although they quickly quieted when Mr. Dickenson cleared his throat a second time, "It is with deep regrets that I must announce my… resignation as chairman of the BBA."
"What?" cried Tyson. A few shocked gasps echoed throughout the room.
"It's not that big a deal," Tyson turned to see the speaker, a familiar baseball player – Micheal. In fact, most of the All Stars seemed generally unconcerned with the news.
"He's probably just retiring, right sir?" said Emily, looking towards Mr. Dickenson questioningly.
"Er… Yes, yes, I feel I may have grown too… old for the job," said Mr. Dickenson wearily.
Hilary frowned, something wasn't right about Mr. Dickenson's sudden retirement. She glanced to the others to see if they had noticed. Tyson was still wide-eyed and gaping like a goldfish, while Kenny had gone back to typing busily on Dizzy. Ray looked, if possible, even more tired than Mr. Dickenson, and Max had the look of a lost puppy. Hilary sighed.
She checked out the other teams, even though she didn't know most of them. She suspected that the team of neko-jin was Ray's old White Tiger team. They were packing up and getting ready to leave – most people were leaving now, Hilary noticed.
The Saint Shields, like the All Stars, didn't seem to find the announcement of much interest, and had already left. The other small Spanish teams had also cleared the building. Hilary suddenly felt herself being elbowed – hard – in the ribs.
"Hey, it's time to go," said Tyson impatiently. The other boys were already heading for the door.
::-::-::-::-::-::
"Max, what is with you?" snapped Tyson. He and Hilary now stood in there younger friend's room, holding what could have been their own version of the Spainish Inquisition.
"Nothing's wrong with me," said Max softly, "I'm just… tired, that's all," he picked up the remote and turned on the TV, flicking absent-mindedly through the channels – most of which were in Spanish.
Tyson snorted, "Yeah, and I'm a purple chicken! Squawk squawk!" he sat down beside his friend, "Seriously Max, what's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Max whispered, finally finding himself an English channel. However, it was some corny, mushy, old-fashioned, romance movie – and it was in black and white.
"Paul, say you'll love me forever," begged the girl, wrapping her arms around the man and gazing up at him lovingly.
"No Sophie, you don't understand. We cannot be together," said the man ruefully.
The girl was shocked, "But- but Paul," tears rolled down her cheeks, "You said you loved me!" Dramatic music played in the background.
"It was all a dream, Sophie -"
Max switched the TV off.
"Hey!" huffed Hilary, "I wanted to see what happened!"
Tyson made a face, "I didn't, it was a good thing Max turned it off or I would've been sick," he paused and turned to his best friend, but was shocked to see the younger boy crying.
"Max!" said Hilary gently, "What's wrong?"
Max turned away, "Nothing's wrong," he muttered, "Nothing…"
"Give it up Max," said Tyson, growing impatient, "We know something's wrong!"
"Fine!" shouted Max, shocking his friends, he jumped off the bed and stalked to the other side of the room angrily, "Fine! I'll tell you! He doesn't love me! Okay? We broke up, he dumped me! Are you happy now?!" he bit his lip and turned away.
Hilary gasped, "Maxy! That's horrible -"
"Shut up!" snapped Max, not letting her finish, "I don't need your sympathy! You don't know what it feels like!" he whirled around to glare at them, tears sparkling on his cheeks, "Shut up and leave me alone!"
Hilary and Tyson sat in stunned silence. Neither of them had ever heard sweet, friendly, hyperactive Max shout like that.
Max turned around again, staring out the window. Tyson couldn't see his face, but he had a feeling his friend was still crying. He was suddenly hit with a deep surge of anger – directed at Ray. How could the Chinese boy have done this to his best friend?
"Tyson," said Hilary quietly, tugging on his arm, "I think we should leave."
Wordlessly, the two of them left.
::-::-::-::-::-::
Predictably the two teenagers had headed up to Ray's room. Hilary wanted some answers, and Tyson wanted shout at the neko-jin. However, the door to Ray's room had been locked, and no matter how many times Hilary had banged on it, or how many threats Tyson had yelled, it wouldn't open. Eventually, the two of them were forced to give up.
Hilary left, and headed to her room. Tyson would have gone to his, but then he remembered something – or more specifically, somebody. He ran down the hallway, watching the numbers roll past him.
419 … 420 … 421 … 422… 423 …
424! He stopped in front of the door, panting slightly despite the fact the he hadn't run far. The door was unlocked, surprisingly, but that was better – he didn't have to knock. That way, he might be able to slip in unnoticed, although that was highly unlikely.
He slid the door open quietly, and paused for a moment to admire the sight. The seventeen-year-old sat, legs crossed, on the bed, a newspaper spread across his lap, and an envelope lying carelessly beside him. Ruby-color eyes scanned the letter in his hands, occasionally narrowing in distaste. Azure hair fell into his handsome face, complimenting his pale features perfectly – not to mention those gorgeous triangular markings. Tyson could have stared at him all night.
And he would have, had he not been snapped out of his gazing by the other boy's low, quiet voice, "Shut the door already, it's drafty in here."
Tyson blushed, and immediately closed it. His reasons for coming here slowly sinking back into his head.
"Um… Kai?"
"Hn."
Tyson flinched, the older boy sounded annoyed. That wasn't a good sign, "Are you… uh, mad at me?" he asked cautiously.
Crimson eyes gazed in his direction, a flicker of confusion behind them, "Why would I be mad at you?"
Tyson was relieved. So maybe Kai wasn't mad at him. It seemed like the first piece of good news all day. Then he remembered another reason he had come here.
"Kai, did you hear about what they did?" he asked as the image of a crying Max and a gloomy Ray flashed through his head.
Kai growled in annoyance, "Yeah."
The younger blader's eyes widened in shock, but he figured that he shouldn't be surprised, his Phoenix had a way of knowing things.
He walked up to Kai, "We can't let them do this, can we?" he asked. He hated seeing his best friend so unhappy.
"You got that right," Kai said, viciously crumpling up the letter he had been reading.
Tyson sat down and slid his arms around his boyfriend's waist, "Geez, you're usually so calm you know? I never expected you to get this upset."
"Hn," Kai grunted, "Upset? I'm not upset. Just incredibly pissed! There's no way in hell I'm wearing a stupid uniform!"
The midnight-haired teen cocked his head in confusion, "Uniforms? What does that have to do with Ray and Max?" he asked, puzzled.
Kai raised an eyebrow, "Were we talking about them?"
"Well, I was," said Tyson. It turned his Phoenix didn't know what had happened to their teammates after all.
Kai sighed and began uncrumpling the letter, muttering to himself what sounded suspiciously like a death threat. He glowered at the paper for a moment and then held it out for Tyson to see, "Read," he commanded.
Tyson read, but the letter was almost entirely in fine print and difficult to read, it sounded like some sort of business contract.
"Sorry, but I don't get it," he said, resting his chin on Kai's shoulder.
Kai smirked, "Baka," he said playfully, "It pretty much says that, since Mr. Dickenson has retired, they have a new chairperson, and then goes over all the new 'improvements' this chairperson has installed, you follow?"
"Uh… Yeah… I think," said Tyson, but frankly, he couldn't see the importance of BBA politics.
"Well, one of their 'improvements', happens to be team uniforms! Among other stupid things that they probably thought up when they had something shoved up their -"
Tyson placed two fingers over his lover's lips to silence him. Then it clicked. The new BBA chairperson wanted to issue uniforms, which would ultimately result in one thing… He'd have to take his beloved red baseball cap off!
"They can't do that!" he shrieked, but thinking back to Max, he felt a little guilty. Uniforms should be the least of his worries right now.
"Kai," he said softly, "Something really bad happened to Maxy."
The elder boy crumpled up the letter again, and acknowledged him with a grunt.
"He and Ray, well he says that he and Ray um…" he searched for a way to put it into words.
Kai rolled his eyes, "Tyson, if you say that Ray got Max pregnant, I'll smack you."
"Kai!" the younger boy protested, he couldn't believe that his Phoenix still remembered that joke, "I'm being serious!"
"So am I. If you make that stupid comment again, I will smack you."
Tyson sighed, "No, they broke up Kai."
"Really?" said Kai, flipping through the newspaper now, "Was there a big fight? Was it dramatic? Were any plates smashed?"
"Kai!" whined Tyson, annoyed now. Hadn't Kai seen how upset Max had been? No, wait, he hadn't. He had to make the other boy see just how serious this was, "I wasn't there, Max told me about it, he was really, really, really sad Kai."
"Maybe he forgot where he put his secret stash of sugar."
"No! I'm being serious! They broke up, and now they're both depressed, and they make me depressed!" suddenly, the sapphire-eyed blader got a brilliant idea, "Kai, we need to get them back together! And I know just how we can do it!"
"What's all this 'we'?" asked Kai warily.
"You're gonna help me, Kai-love," said Tyson sweetly, hugging his Phoenix tighter, "Aren't you?" he put on his cutest face.
Kai refused to look at the younger boy, knowing that he would inevitably give in if he did – that puppy-look was invincible. Instead, he became even more interested in the newspaper, despite the fact it was written in Spanish.
"Pwease Kai? Pwetty Pwease?"
Kai sighed, but refused to look up from the newspaper, "I don't think you should interfere with other peoples business," he stated carefully.
"But it is my business! They're unhappy, and when my friends are unhappy it makes me unhappy!" whined Tyson, "So we have to make them happy again!" he grinned mischieviously and moved Kai's chin so that Kai had to look at him.
'Stupid puppy-look,' Kai thought to himself. Why did it have to be so damn adorable? There was no way anyone could resist that! Yet, somehow, Hilary and the Chief did it everyday… They defied the puppy-look! How could they do it?
Kai sighed, "Fine," he muttered, defeated.
Tyson grinned, "Yay! I knew you'd do it! Don't worry Maxy! You and Ray will be together again in no time!"
Aouni: Woah, I think that was the longest chapter I've ever written – in any story. Anywho, it sucked, because I suck – but please review anyways! Sorry that I'm making Ray seem like such a jerk right now, but I'll put in his point of view later and hopefully then he won't seem like such a bad guy!
Ray: Yeah right. You just like torturing me!
Hilary: I think it's just her way of being nice.
Ray: She tortures people to be NICE? Is that what you're saying?
Hilary: -:-sweatdrops-:- Uh, yeah I guess.
Aouni: Thank you to all those nice, kind peoples who reviewed my last chappie! Sorry, but I'm too lazy to answer the reviews right now. It doesn't mean your reviews aren't appreciated though – I love reviews (who doesn't?) So please review this chappie! Or I won't update!
Tyson: That threat only works if you're story is any good.
Dizzy: Yeah! And my data analysis shows that this story SUCKS!
Aouni: Quit rubbing it in --;;