Mei: Oooh, it's been a while… a long while… but, at least I've updated, ne? I actually had this done a couple weeks ago, but I never got around to posting it. Sorry guys! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, even though I've been taking so long to get things updated!

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never did.

Warning: Boy x Boy – if you've read this far and haven't realized that, then I'm real worried about you.

Chapter Five


Kai trudged back to the campsite sulkily. He couldn't believe he'd made such a fool of himself in front of Tyson like that. The younger boy must have thought he was a complete fool. It didn't matter. The world champion wasn't going to return his feelings. He liked Hilary. Kai knew this.

As if to confirm his dismal thoughts, Hilary came running towards him panting breathlessly, "Have… you seen… Tyson?" she asked, clutching her side. She'd apparently been running quite a distance, "I really needed to talk to him," he voice seemed kind of choked, but Kai wasn't paying attention.

He was tempted to smack her over the head and tell her that a) He hadn't seen Tyson, and even if he had, he wasn't going to tell her because b) Tyson was his and not hers and that c)… well c) was really nasty, and the thought of saying it kind of brought Kai back to earth.

"Yeah, he was down that way," said Kai softly, pointing in the direction that he had come from. He hoped that Tyson had already left taking an alternate route back to the camp, so that Hilary wouldn't find him.

"Thanks, Kai," said Hilary gratefully. She seemed distracted, upset even, but she waved, giving him an obviously fake smile and continued jogging in the direction Kai had told her to go. He felt a little guilty for thinking such bad thoughts about her. It wasn't her fault that Tyson didn't love him. He sighed and dragged himself back to camp, where he would inevitably face Ray and Max and their persistent matchmaking attempts.

He didn't know why they were bothering to get his hopes up. They knew as well as he did that Tyson was going out with Hilary. All the signs were there, any day now the two of them would be announcing they were an item. Kai didn't want to think about that, it just made him crave an extra six cups of coffee and an overdose of anti-depressants and vitamin pills.

That and he still couldn't believe he'd fallen out of that damned tree house.

As he neared the camp he could smell the unmistakable scent of smoke rising into the air. His head jerked up anxiously, but he realized it was probably just the campfire. The tacky yellow and orange tents came into view and he could see Max doing some sort of crazy stunt on top of the cooler. Kenny was dishing out warnings about all the various ways that Max could injure/maim/kill himself balancing on top of the cooler. Ray was watching from the distance, amusement and worry mixing to form a rather interesting expression on his face.

Kai swept past them without a second thought. He didn't want to talk to them, listen to them, or even be around them at the moment. He pulled open the tent zipper and crawled inside, zipping it shut and flopping down on his sleeping bag wearily. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small medication container, popping it open. Vitamin pills were the answers to all the world's problems… Well, maybe not that extreme, but for now they answered Kai's problems, and that was good enough for him.

All Kai wanted to do right now was to lie in his tent and get some much needed sleep. His afternoon nap had been short, and the events afterwards had only tired him out again. He groaned, and pulled his pillow out of his bag. It would be nice to just relax…

However, it didn't look like that was going to happen, because right then the zipper of his tent began to open itself slowly.

Ray's head popped in, "Hey, Kai."

The older boy gave a low growl, and tossed his pillow angrily at the Chinese boy, "Go away."

Ray was not the least bit fazed, he ducked the pillow easily, and crawling into the tent. Much to Kai's dismay, he was followed closely by Max. Reaching into his bag, Kai pulled out a random shirt, and threw it at Max in one last effort to get the two of them to leave him alone.

It didn't work.

"So, did Tyson catch up to you?" asked Max, grinning widely as he picked up Kai's shirt and chucked it back at him lightly.

Kai glared, stuffing his shirt back into his bag, "How would you know if…" he trailed off, as it suddenly dawned on him, "You sent him after me! Didn't you?"

Max grinned sheepishly and Ray only smirked. Kai glared at them furiously. If only looks could kill…

"We thought you two might hit it off," said Ray easily, enjoying the faint tinge of pink that crept across Kai's cheeks. Max grinned.

"Well, we didn't." Glowering at them was becoming pointless. They were only enjoying this. Sighing, Kai flopped down on the sleeping bag, his head longing for the softness of pillow and cursing him for throwing it at Ray. The floor of the tent was hard, and the sleeping bag did little to change that.

"Aw, that's too bad," said Max, seemingly generally sorry. Ray was less sympathetic.

"What did you say?" he asked accusingly, "Did you drive him off with more of your bad attitude? Have I ever told you that you're a real prick, Kai?"

"I didn't do anything," muttered Kai. He closed his eyes tiredly, wishing that they would just leave him alone, "Besides, Hilary showed up to see her boyfriend." He knew he was exaggerating, but he hoped he would get the point across to them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see max and Ray exchange guilty looks. "Well, we tried to stop her from going," said Max earnestly, "We really did."

"Hey, don't worry tough guy." Ray grinned, "We can break couples up just as easily as getting them together, right Maxie?"

Kai let out a long, deep sigh. "Breaking Tyson and Hilary up won't do anything for me." He looked at them both meaningfully, "Tyson will still be straight, and if you break the two of them up, then he'll be miserable..." he paused and added softly, "I don't want to see Tyson miserable."

"Oh Kai!" gushed Max, his blue eyes wide and sparkling, "That was so sweet…"

Ray rolled his eyes, "Since when have you gone so soft? I thought you were a tough guy! I thought you didn't care how other people felt. I thought you only looked out for number one, who cares who gets in your way." He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair, "Oh man, Kai, love has turned you into silly putty, hasn't it?"

Kai growled, and clenched his fists around his sleeping bag. The neko-jin was pushing it, really pushing it. Maybe he'd forgotten that Kai made up most of the training schedule.

Max punched Ray playfully in the arm, "I think it's cute," he said seriously, giving Ray a hard stare. The Chinese teenager flushed pink slightly, before giving in.

"Fine, Kai. Have it your way. I just think you shouldn't give up, that's all."

With that, the two of them began to crawl back out of the tent, leaving Kai alone with his thoughts at last.

Tyson had picked himself up and started brushing some of the leaves off of his shirt. He didn't dare try and start with the dirt on his pants and back. Let Hilary yell at him for it, he didn't care. At least he'd broken Kai's fall, the thought made him giddy.

Although, that was completely silly if one thought about it – having a boy who was taller and obviously heavier than him was fall on him and crush the air out of his lungs. Something like that wasn't supposed to make one feel "giddy".

But still, Kai had been touching him. It sent a thrill up Tyson's spine just thinking about it. He'd never been so close to the elusive team captain before.

Then again, Kai had stalked off on him huffily. The odds were likely that his captain was angry with him. That made Tyson's spirits sink a little. Kai would probably take his frustration on him out the way he usually did – by making Tyson train even harder than normal. The Japanese teen groaned at the thought.

He began walking towards the camp.

"Tyson!" the teenaged boy's head snapped up at the familiar voice, Hilary was jogging towards him, looking rather worse for wear, "Tyson," she panted as she caught up with him. There was something wrong with her.

"Hey, Hil," he said cheerfully, maybe overly-cheerful, he had to admit he was still a still giddy. His smile faded as he saw the look on her face. "What's up?"

The girl's eyes were wide and watery, as if she'd been crying. "Kenny…" she said softly, hesitating, "I guess it doesn't matter. I shouldn't complain about it, I mean, it's silly."

"No, tell me what's wrong," said Tyson firmly. Although he was no expert with the whole 'comforting' thing, he still hated to see his friends upset.

"Kenny… he…" Hilary bit her lip unhappily, "He has a girlfriend," she said finally.

Tyson's eyes widened, "He can't have a girlfriend," he said, trying to reason with her. Maybe she'd just taken something the Chief had said the wrong way, "I mean, he would have told us, right? We would have seen her…" he trailed off noticing the look on Hilary's face. Tears were leaking out of her eyes, and trailing down her cheeks.

He wasn't sure what to do. "No, it's an internet girlfriend, see, I was talking to him, and he kept trying to get me to leave – so, I know when I'm not wanted, I left. But then, I realized I'd forgotten the ribbon, for my hair, and I came back in, and he was talking to her," she said all of this very fast, as if it would somehow make things better if Tyson wasn't able to understand her.

After a few moments of trying process what Hilary had said, Tyson finally answered carefully, "But how do you know it was actually a girlfriend?" his skepticism faltered slightly when he saw that she was outright crying now.

"W-would you say – If it wasn't your – You d-didn't see what he wrote…" she was now struggling vainly to keep herself from bursting into uncontrolled sobs. Tyson was feeling extremely awkward. He had never been around a crying person before, not since when his mother died. When that had happened, he had been doing most of the crying rather than the comforting. Suddenly, before Tyson could react, Hilary had thrown her arms around him, sobbing pitifully. Tyson did not know what else to do, so he tentatively hugged her back.

He still couldn't fathom how Kenny could have had a girlfriend without him or any of the others knowing. How was it possible to keep such a thing secret? Of course, if it was an internet girl, then he could easily have never told any of them. However, wouldn't there have been signs? Some clues to show he had been in love?

He had a sudden, sick feeling in his stomach. What if Kai had a girlfriend? If Kenny could hide his feelings of being in love, then surely it would be no trouble for Kai. He hadn't been dubbed 'The Ice King' for nothing. Kai was a master at disguising his emotions. Tyson couldn't honestly say that there had ever been a time when he had known what Kai was really thinking.

The thought made his stomach churn jealously.

But he wouldn't think of that. Instead, he rather awkwardly tried to comfort Hilary, feeling more and more uncomfortable, and wondering if what she said was true about Kenny… and trying not to think if it was true about Kai.

He didn't know why he had left, or what had convinced him to go. It was probably Ray. Stupid Ray. He was going to have to make him run extra laps, do extra sit-ups, practice extra pop can drills, lift extra weights and whatever other cruel punishment he could come up with under the guise of "training".

"Hello, my child."

Kai nearly jumped three feet into the air. The old woman, their camp guide, was standing in front of him, her trademark creepy smile plastered all over her wrinkled face. He scowled, "What do you want?"

The little old lady seemed completely unfazed. She leaned in close to him, eyeing him critically, "I see you have not changed…"

"What are you talking about?" Kai was really wishing she would just go away. What was it with people today? Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"You are still uptight and tense. You are wound up like a ball of yarn," she nodded sagely before adding, "You are not relaxed."

Rolling his eyes, Kai turned to walk away, but the old woman snatched his shoulder and spun him around with amazing strength, "You must learn," she rasped, leaning in uncomfortably close to him. Kai instinctively leaned away. "You must learn to spread your wings! Become a butterfly."

Kai stared at her disbelievingly, "Become a what?"

"A butterfly," she repeated, her voice a low hiss, "You must spread your wings, like a butterfly, and fly away. Right now, you are still a caterpillar. You are all wrapped up in your little cocoon. You know nothing else."

If Kai hadn't thought this lady was crazy before, he sure did now. "I'm not a butterfly," he told her firmly, backing away. Her hand only gripped his shoulder tighter as he did this, making him shift his weight uneasily.

"No, you're not," she said, leaning in again, "Not yet. You must become the butterfly. Only then will you truly be free."

Right. A butterfly. She's on crack. Not knowing what else to do, Kai just gave a very pained nod, and hoped that she would be satisfied and leave him alone. However, that was not the case. Without warning, the old lady leaned close, pressing her nose against his chest. And then, before Kai could do anything, she sniffed him.

Kai was speechless.

"I see you have been in the tree house," she said gravely.

He didn't know how she could possibly know that, or how she would have figured that out by sniffing him, of all things. No, she must have seen him climb it, or fall from it, or something to that effect. That was it.

"You smell just like tree house," continued the woman, "I told you not to go into the tree house."

How could anyone possibly smell like a tree house? Maybe if she had said "pine" or "trees" or "mould" it would have made sense, but not tree house.

"You must never go back to that tree house," she said, her hoarse, eerie voice raising and making him jump.

"Right, whatever," he muttered, as she finally let go of his shoulder. He backed away as far as he possibly could without risking bumping into anything, before he turned around and headed towards the trees again.

Trying to get the crazy lady's words out of his head and focus on the goal, he barely noticed the voices ahead of him. He didn't care who it was, it didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that he was going to do it. He was going to go up to Tyson, Hilary or no Hilary, and tell him… Tell him what? I love you..? He couldn't say that, could he?

He could hear a girl sobbing not too far away, and then there was another voice, a boy's voice. It spoke in hushed, gentler tones, intended to soothe, comfort. Its familiarity was disconcerting. He knew he'd heard that voice before. Hesitantly, Kai peered around the corner, into the clearing.

It made his heart wrench in two.

There was Tyson, hugging Hilary, who was plainly sobbing into his chest. Kai had no idea why she was this way, nor did he care even slightly. He felt something twist unpleasantly in his stomach, and he thought that he might be sick. All thoughts of telling Tyson his feelings were obliterated from his mind, and he turned and made his way miserably back to the camp, trying to think of anything else. Beyblades, training, even that crazy old lady would have done just fine, but he couldn't stop thinking about what he had just seen.

Mei: There, I think I sufficiently screwed things up for them in this chapter:grins: I love being evil. Hehe. Only one more chapter to go, hopefully. So, please review guys! I love your reviews, I really, really do. :)