Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, and I'm not making any money off writing this… ahh I probably wouldn't make very much anyway.
Ranma's Author's Notes: Whoa oh man, thanks for all the great feedback to everyone that reviewed! Sorry for the wait, I was havin' trouble writing this for some reason. Thanks again for liking this…! Oh yeah and join the TyKa C2 I run, we're at 79 subscribers you guys, by Takao Aoki, 'the pair with mutual feelings' is us! And, just for age range for this story, Tyson is around 19-20, and Kai is 21-22.
A Week with Tyson
What if you lived by your heart instead of your schedule?
What if you found your heart knew what you wanted better than anything else?
And what if the only one you needed, was the one you thought you didn't, all along…
- Monday -
The sounds of chirping birds outside the window and the warm feeling of sunlight on his skin caused the figure in the bed to stir slightly. For a moment, it did not move again, for all appearances having returned to slumber.
And then Kai's eyes snapped open and he sat straight up in bed. Suddenly alert, the former team captain remembered with clarity the events of the day before and how he had ended up at Tyson's home. Automatically, the young man turned to the bedside table to see what time it was before he got up for the day.
The time 8:23am in digital numbers looked back at him. 'What?' Kai's eyes widened imperceptibly. Stunned at the late hour, he vaguely wondered if Tyson had somehow changed the clock's time as a prank. That option was quickly ruled out. He had never used an alarm to awaken. He always had the habit of getting up early without aid, thanks to his internal clock.
Rapidly becoming perfectly awake, he could hear the faint chinking of cutlery and dishes coming from the kitchen, signifying that Tyson was already up and about.
'I slept in?' The horrible truth sank in and Kai frowned deeply as he swiftly got out of the guest bed and started to get dressed. 'This I'll never live down.' The dual-haired young man thought sourly. Even when he didn't try, Tyson still somehow managed to affect him.
Tyson yawned and stretched in the brightly lit kitchen. He absently scratched at his head while he poured himself a glass of milk to go with the plate of toast on the table. Sitting down at his place, the pony-tailed youth gulped at his drink while he waited for Kai to join him. He hadn't been sure what Kai would want him to make to eat, so he'd opted for the same easy meal, except he made some morning tea for his former team captain.
Glancing at the kitchen clock, Tyson silently whooped. He had managed to get up before Kai – but he'd been too excited to really sleep anyway.
Tyson yawned again and took another big gulp of his milk.
Kai walked into the kitchen a second later and Tyson stared. The taller youth was wearing his old purple and black outfit, his long white scarf securely wrapped around his neck, and the blue face paint in its eternal position. On anyone else, the clothes would have been extremely out of place, but on Kai, Tyson had considered anything else on him out of place – especially that suit and tie.
"I thought you gave that up?" Tyson blurted out, nodding to Kai's attire with large eyes.
Looking at Tyson for a long moment, a hint of a smile appeared. "And I thought you grew up." Kai replied before slipping into a seat at the table.
"Huh? Oh…" Tyson blinked until it dawned on him. Darting a hand to his upper lip, the pony-tailed youth rubbed away the white milk moustache in embarrassment, smiling anyway as he quickly poured Kai some tea. "So you got anything you wanna do today, Kai?"
Momentarily caught staring at the modest breakfast Tyson had fixed for him, Kai faltered. He hadn't had any plan of what to do on his suspension. Up until now it had all been spur-of-the-moment decisions.
"I didn't decide that yet…" Kai answered reluctantly.
Tyson just nodded and stuffed a piece of heavily buttered toast into his mouth. "Mffokay!"
Reassured at Tyson's easy acceptance, Kai picked up his tea and carefully sipped at it. He reached for a toast when he spotted Tyson watching him intently with a smile. Kai glared at him over the rim of the teacup.
Tyson met Kai's annoyed stare and grinned, leaning his head on his hand. "What?"
Kai closed his eyes and ignored that comment, returning to his breakfast.
The meal was just finishing up when Tyson leisurely got up to grab something more. The young man scratched his head through his backwards hat as he surveyed the fruit bowl that sat ominously empty. 'No more? That's not cool.' Shrugging, Tyson scooted over to the Kinomiya's large fridge to scrounge around for some juice.
Opening the fridge door, Tyson's eyes bugged out and he sweatdropped. "Uh oh….Kaaiii…" Tyson looked over his shoulder at his former team captain still seated in the chair.
Finishing the last of his tea, Kai set the cup down and looked at Tyson. "…What?"
"We kinda don't have any groceries for the week." Tyson explained, his head stuck back in the fridge in hopes of seeing food actually appear in the near-empty icebox.
Kai thought he knew what was coming but he asked anyway. "…And?"
As if on queue, Tyson turned around and grinned, deftly kicking the fridge door shut behind him. "Aaand….wanna come help me get some?"
When Kai didn't reply, Tyson put his hand to his chin slyly. "Or we could order in the whole week, I haven't done that since Kenny and I were housesitting for his folks whe-"
"Fine." Kai cut in, getting up and briskly walking out of the kitchen to the doorway where he quickly put on his shoes.
Right behind him, Tyson grabbed his house keys off the small hook and smiled widely. "I knew you'd see it my way."
"Your way?" Kai scoffed, crossing his arms. "You'd probably live on junk food and sweets if I weren't here right now."
"Hey…how'd you know…?" Tyson wondered aloud as he slipped on his sneakers and hastily followed Kai out the door.
The wind gently blew as the two former Bladebreakers walked along the sidewalk to the nearby grocery store that Gramps and Tyson would always shop at.
'A week with Tyson…' Kai thought mildly, enjoying the refreshing morning air away from the unwanted pressure to do idiotic work. 'A week of…peace…maybe.'
"Hilary and the Chief are still at university right now. They decided to get an apartment to rent right near the campus instead of the long commute there." Tyson's cheerful voice informed from beside him.
'Or maybe not.' Kai sighed to himself as Tyson rambled on.
"Hilary said it was better than living in a dorm 'cause then she wouldn't have to fight the guys off of her with a stick," Tyson rolled his eyes like he didn't believe that for one second, then continued, "…and that it would be easier to room with a good friend than a total stranger. Plus they think the food on campus is terrible, though I totally disagree to that!"
Kai inclined his head slightly, unsure of how to add to this mindless chit-chat.
"Have you tried her cooking? You'd be breathing fire for a month!" Tyson laughed and then looked like he was imagining Kai doing it. "Actually that'd be funny to see…"
"Tyson…" Kai glared at him.
Tyson grinned in mirth. "Ahem, anyway I figure it's an even trade since Hilary will probably go insane now that MingMing's new CD is out, and you know how Kenny is a complete fanboy for that."
No, he didn't know… Had he really missed out on so much? Now even Beyblade had taken a backseat to his job, when before nothing – even hospitalization – would have kept him away from the game.
"So why aren't you there with them, Tyson?" Kai asked, breaking the comfortable lull in the conversation. The blue haired young man paused in walking and gave Kai a surprised glance before chewing on his bottom lip. It seemed like he was debating on what to tell Kai. The other young man searched his face as if looking for something, and after a moment Tyson stopped biting his lip and visibly relaxed with a soft smile. "Well, I went for first year with them and took a few courses I thought I'd like and everything, but…" He trailed off, starting to walk again.
Kai followed suit and didn't say anything, waiting for the explanation patiently.
"I dunno… it just seemed like there was something missing. I couldn't imagine myself doing anything like what they were teaching me for the rest of my life. It didn't feel like… like I belonged there."
Kai's eyes widened slightly. He was shocked to hear his own feelings of uncertainty about what he was supposed to do echoed back to him from Tyson's lips, in a way he understood perfectly.
"If I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing something, it's gotta be something I love… you know?" Tyson finished, looking at Kai meaningfully.
Yes, that he did know. "You mean Beyblade." Kai stated, sure of what Tyson was talking about.
Tyson smiled widely and his eyebrows shot past his hairline before he reined his expression in and speared Kai a teasing look. "Almost."
Kai raised an eyebrow imperceptibly at that. 'Not Beyblade?...What could he possibly love more than that?' Kai thought about his own answer to that question and found it so readily, his mind shied away from the implications of that. The dual-haired young man's lips quirked slightly. If there was one thing he loved more than Beyblading, it was beyblading against Tyson. Not that he would ever admit that to him, of course.
The two continued to walk along, passing a few small shops that were near the grocery. A bookstore came into view and some new issues of sports and beyblading magazines called out to Tyson from the display window, instantly catching his attention. "Hey!" Tyson smiled and caught Kai's shirt, earning a look from the dual-haired young man. "Let's look around in here for a sec!"
"Tyson…" Kai took in some of the heavier titles of novels and biographies also resting in the display and raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you read?"
"Hah hah hah," Tyson said flatly, before he tugged at Kai again, successfully opening the door and getting them inside the store. "Come on, I really need some new comics!"
Promptly releasing his captive, Tyson headed for a well known section of shelves which carried comics and magazines. Uninterested in actually getting anything for himself, the future president of Hiwatari Corps glanced over at a bin filled with value books on sale for five dollars or less.
'What a waste of time…' Kai sighed, absently picking up a paper-back with tacky cover art. Opening it to a random page, the dual-haired young man scanned the words until Tyson was finished choosing his comics. 'Their skin was slick with sweat as they moved together beautifully, in the age old dance. Moans rent the air like music as their love was in full bloom….'
Kai tossed the book back into the bin feeling his cheeks burn even as he felt sick from the complete cheesiness of the obviously cheap erotica. 'No wonder it was in the value bin…'
"Hey Kai, I got my stuff, they had 3 new volumes in can you believe it?" Tyson cheered happily, appearing by Kai's side with an arm full of books. "He what's this?" Tyson noticed the abused book poorly stacked in the bin. "Did you want this book, Kai?"
"No!" Kai said firmly, looking away. "Put it back and let's go already, Tyson." He finished a bit hastily, and Tyson raised an eyebrow, noticing Kai's suspicious behavior. The obliviously hat-wearing youth flipped way into the book and read aloud.
"They tumbled together, rolling in their passion on the grass, their clothes thrown hapha-hahaoooh!" Tyson's laughed realizing just what he was reading. "Whoa what is this? I never expected you to be a closet trashy romance reader!" He wheezed, grinning at his scowling companion who was faintly blushing.
"Whatever…" Kai ground out, turning on his heel and stalking for the door. "I'll wait outside." Kai said sternly over his shoulder, however the faint blush on his cheeks was still apparent. "Make it fast."
"Aye aye!" Tyson saluted with the book and grinned to himself as he went to purchase his selections. 'He'll probably kill me before Thursday if I tease him too much… but I just can't stop myself. I'd rather have him mad at me, than ignore me the whole time.' Tyson thought to himself, accepting the plastic bag from the cashier with a smile. 'Besides, there's nothing cuter, when Kai blushes…'
The two had made it to the grocery without much problem, and were surprised to find it a little bit more busy than expected. Tyson wheeled around the cart dropping various items into it as Kai trailed behind. He had never grocery shopped before.
While they were parked in the fruits and vegetables section, Tyson grabbed some of the food and couldn't resist it.
"Hey Kai! Look, guess who I am!"
Kai turned around to see Tyson on his knees on the floor, holding two white onions up to his forehead, symbolizing large frog-like glasses. "It's Kenny, can't you tell?" The pony-tailed youth laughed at his terrible impersonation.
Kai sighed and crossed his arms from where he stood next to their shopping cart. "Stop being ridiculous…"
"Now look, I'm Mariah…" Tyson's voice had transformed into a sexy sultry sound. Staring over at the shorter blader who was now holding fair-sized melons up to his chest, Kai's cheeks reddened against his will as Tyson pouted his lips and blew a kiss at him "Raaay…" Tyson joked.
Kai was un-amused. "Tyson… Put. Those. Down…"
"Oh fine." Tyson returned the produce, although he still looked around for another prop to impersonate someone with. Kai subtly picked up speed in walking through the aisles, forcing the baseball-capped youth to give up on his quest and return to grabbing food to buy.
A while later, miraculously they had managed to fill their shopping cart and purchase the groceries without much more of Tyson's teasing, and they split the load of bags for the walk back to the dojo. They continued in comfortable silence until Tyson piloted them to cut through the park to save some time.
While they were walking through it a strong breeze picked up sending sand and dust into the air. The two former Bladebreakers shut their eyes reflexively until it stopped, Kai's billowing scarf brushing Tyson's arms.
"Who let out the tornado!" Tyson wondered, bringing an arm up the shield his face.
"Come on." Kai ordered, and they quickly made their way past the playground to a bench shaded from the wind and hot noon sun.
"Phew…hold on a sec, okay Kai?" Tyson asked as he set his grocery bags on the ground and sat down on the bench, fixing his hat. Kai set down his bags as well, but remained standing, crossing his arms as he waited for Tyson to get up again.
"Ow…owowow…" Some of the grit had gotten into Tyson's eyes, and he rubbed at them managing to relieve them, though there was some particle still persistently aggravating his right eye. It watered up and Tyson grimaced. "Man…"
Kai noticed Tyson's obsessive blinking. "…What's wrong?"
The midnight blue haired youth looked up at Kai, tears streaming down from his eye, rolling down his tanned cheek. "What's it look like? I've got something in my eye! Grrrgrgh come out!" Tyson rubbed at the eye vigorously.
"Let me see…" Kai squint his eyes slightly in annoyance. Tyson heaved an exasperated sigh and stood up.
"Which one is it?" Kai asked, and without warning took Tyson's face in his hands gently drawing him closer to his face.
"….." Tyson was speechless for a moment at the unexpected closeness. He swallowed, Kai's hands on his cheeks holding him in place. "Um…hah…it's…the right one." Tyson blinked madly again, trying to will away the uncomfortable feeling he was suddenly caught in. He saw Kai frown briefly, and he slowly flushed involuntarily as Kai moved closer, his mouth parted. 'Those are…nice lips…' Tyson thought dumbly, his eyes wide and frozen in place.
Kai blew at Tyson's eye harshly.
"OW! KAI! What are you trying to do!" Tyson griped, breaking away from the dual-haired youth's grasp, his hand clamped to his eye in protection.
Kai gave the baseball-capped blader a half-smile. "Did I get it?"
Tyson had stopped glaring and was staring at his mouth but didn't appear to have heard his question.
"Tyson." Kai repeated.
"Huh?" Tyson's eyes immediately snapped up to meet Kai's gaze. A faint tinge of pink covered the shorter youth's cheeks before he shook it off. Tyson blinked experimentally. "Hey…yeah… it's gone!" He said in relief.
"Whatever… next time let your eyelashes do the job." Kai picked up his set of bags.
Tyson grinned at that, grabbing his own bags. "Not everybody's got superstar eyes like yours."
Kai took in Tyson's warm brown eyes. 'I'm not sure about that…' He thought. "Come on, unless you want your tub of ice-cream to melt."
That set Tyson into high-gear and they made it back to the dojo in record time. When they got in, they set the grocery bags down in the kitchen where Tyson put the food away expertly. A bit tired from the outing, Tyson sprawled down on couch in the living room and grabbed up a comic to read, while Kai decided to go and take a shower.
A while later, Kai had dressed and ventured back into the living room. He had debated on taking out some work from his briefcase to look over, but instead had shoved the leather-bound carrier underneath the bed in disgust.
Kai looked down at the couch where Tyson had disappeared from and sat down. Eyeing the receipts stacked neatly next to the also neat stack of comics, Kai picked them up. He would have to take care of a part of the cost of groceries anyway.
Going down through the receipts, Kai looked at the one from the bookstore as well. 'Rose-Tinted Lips of Spring…?' That title did not belong on there. Had Tyson been billed extra?
"And then he lay his lover down on the bed, planting wet kisses aaaall over that porcelain skin…-" Tyson's amused voice floated to Kai's ears, which promptly turned red. The dual-haired young man slowly twisted around to see the former world champion leaning against the wall in a posture not unlike his own from years before, with the purloined romance novel open in his hands.
A grimace covered Kai's face. "You just live to take risks don't you, Tyson."
The midnight blue haired blader grinned and raised the book to his eyes. "Legs intertwined and the honey of passion dripped-"
Kai shot Tyson a dirty look.
"Okay, okay, I've had my fun; you can have the book Kai." Tyson waved his hands and offered the paperback to the taller youth.
Kai glared at Tyson, but stood up anyway and reached to take it so he could throw the worthless novel in the trash. Just when his hand was going to close over it, Tyson yanked it away.
"Changed my mind!" Tyson laughed and dashed away for his room.
"Why you…" Kai gritted under his breath and chased after the sprightly youth, seeing him going to hide in Kai's room.
Tyson pushed at the door but Kai caught it before it closed, overpowering the other young man and swiftly trapping him against the guestroom wall. The both breathed harder than normal and their gazes locked.
"Did you really think you'd get away from me?" Kai asked lowly.
Tyson blushed slightly and looked off to the side breaking their stare. Something blue on the dresser caught his eye. "Hey, you brought Dranzer!"
Kai followed Tyson's gaze. "Of course…" He answered.
The first MS version of Dranzer had completely shattered after his fight against Brooklyn, but after things had settled down and Bay City was being rebuilt, Kenny had rebuilt Dranzer and updated it too. Tyson and Kai had also gotten to beybattle each other at the park, which both of them had been waiting for a chance to do. They had often sought each other out to beybattle after Max and Ray had returned to their new respective teams. Kai had had the most fun in those times…but it had gradually fallen away.
'When did I start choosing meetings with Hiwatari Corps over meetings with Tyson?' The older blader wondered, not just a little disturbed at how he ignored what he'd most enjoyed for something he hated.
Tyson and Kai looked at each other in anticipation. "Do you wanna have a beybattle?" The world champ questioned eagerly.
Kai frowned slightly, although the other blader could tell he was genuinely pleased. "You just made your first mistake, Tyson." He picked up the small blue Dranzer MS blade from the dresser. "You'll lose for sure."
"You talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?" Tyson shot back grinning. He reached into his red jacket pocket and stretched his arm out, displaying his own Dragoon Ultimate MS proudly in the palm of his hand.
"Enough talking, hotshot." Kai smirked.
"You admit it, I'm hot!" Tyson joked easily, making a fist around his beyblade.
"Not in this lifetime." Kai shot back just as easily, an amused smirk painted on his face along with the blue triangles making him look desperately familiar to the face in Tyson's treasured memories of years before.
Just as Tyson was about to growl a comeback, his stomach growled before he got a chance to. "Um hah hah, how about lunch before I beat you?"
"I should have known…" Kai rolled his eyes is exasperation almost imperceptibly. "…It'll be your last meal."
"My last…KAI, can't you let me have the last word!" Tyson practically whined.
Kai pocketed his Dranzer beyblade and smiled faintly at him. "No."
From the very first round when they had shouted 'Dragoon!' and 'Dranzer!' respectively, they had become enraptured in the game. 'Just one more time!' had turned into 'Let's go until we can't anymore!' The large previously well-kept yard was testament to that…
It had all faded away to just the two of them, and even after the long separation of their beyblades they still found they could read each other's moves. More than one game they had tied, only to flawlessly pick up their blades and launch them again for the next battle.
Hours later, with roughed up clothes, hair, near exhaustion, and after a quick dinner, the sky was dark and the two former Bladebreakers had finally called it a day.
"Goodnight Kai." Tyson smiled, having caught the older blader before he had entered the guestroom he was staying in.
Kai looked at him for a long moment before he smiled. "Yeah…Goodnight, Tyson."
When Kai's door slid shut, Tyson's heart beat fast for an entirely different reason than all the intense beyblading.
Lying in his bed, Tyson stared up at the ceiling, only now the strange feelings that had been surfacing within him all day wouldn't leave him alone, and he couldn't sleep without thinking about them. He… felt… something with Kai around, and it'd only gotten worse after beybattling him again for the first time in years… It hadn't been the first time he'd felt it either, but he'd either never had the time to really wonder about it, or the reason to. But now…
His day with Kai flashed through his mind and Tyson recalled the goodnight smile the dual-haired blader had given him.
'Beyblade and romance don't mix!' Tyson had once declared haughtily, a long time ago, when the only thing on his mind was the game. But now… but now… now he couldn't help but take it back… because…
Because when he was beyblading against Kai, he was so in love with that feeling…
As soon as the thought had entered his mind, the pony-tailed youth slapped a hand to his forehead and threaded it into midnight blue bangs in frustration. 'Arghh, Tyson don't be so stupid. Romance and Kai mix even less…like oil and water!'
Funny, that's how Hilary had described him and Kai once… so then why did it feel like the exact opposite? Maybe at first it had been like that but…
Tyson remembered the events of the BEGA tournament and the world championships from three years ago. They had rekindled a bond between them that had been tentatively forming ever since their first world championships together. There were times when he and Kai had only had to look at each other and he would understand everything the other was thinking, and feeling…
The other hand joined the first in gripping at his hair, exasperated at himself for continuing to think about it. 'Don't forget why he's here, it's just some time between friends!' And then after the week was up, he'd go back to work and Tyson would have to wait how many more years to see him again? Would it be ten? Twenty? …Never? Something tugged at Tyson's heart at those possibilities but he roughly swallowed it down. He didn't need these troublesome feelings to get in the way of this time they had together.
Distantly, he wished for the good old days when he could pretend it didn't matter so much and he wouldn't miss Kai. But at the same time… Now that Kai was here with him, he couldn't fool himself into believing that all he felt was friendship for the other man.
Not when Kai did things, like how he had held his face so gently earlier…and how he'd smiled… Tyson's face flushed with colour and he angrily pulled the covers over his head, determined to fall asleep, even as the thoughts continued to run through his mind. 'We're…just friends…'
End Part 2 of 7
Liked it? Didn't like it? Review please!
