A/N: YO ! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, but I just couldn't get this chapter down the way I want it to go. Even now, I still don't like the way it turned out. But all well, I didn't want to delay it any more.

Thank you to:

Demolition Angel; MasterFranny ; aries1391; Lefty; Minxyminx; katten; Kat; GabZ; Melody; Gabriel of Dreams-Yume Chan; whatevergirl; Viet-Unit-Phoenix

And anyone else who reviewed!

Now on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters.

Warning: OOC-ness (out of character-ness), mild language, and Male/male coupling.

Pairings: Tala/Kai

Because it's you

To say that Ray Kon was worried would be the greatest understatement of the year. Not only was he falling behind in his Chinese studies (thanks to his busy blading schedule), but his relationship with Max seemed to be falling apart as well.

The young blonde's mother would be flying over to Japan with the Bladebreakers soon, after the World cup ceremony in a month's time. And Max had been planning her arrival with his father since, well…forever. Leaving him little, if not no time at all, with his boyfriend.

Ray felt like they were slowly drifting apart.

Sighing dejectedly, the young Chinese rubbed his forehead, while he poured out two cups of tea one-handedly.

Of course, what happened this morning didn't help matters any….

Holding the two cups in his hands, the Neko-jin made his way to the living room adjoined to the small kitchen.

On the couch, with a blanket draped over shivering shoulders, sat another boy of Ray's age.

Walking around the couch, the tiger took a sear next to the other,placing the other's tea on the tablewhile doing so.

Ray sighed on the inside, and wondered how everything seems to be going wrong.

This morning, Ray had been awoken, by the insistent knocking on his hotel door. The teen had been having a good dream and was annoyed to hell at being so rudely woken. He had stomped to the door and slammed it open with great force, and a good mind to yell at whoever had thought it a good idea to visit at 5:30 in the morning. However, the sight that greeted him had made all curses fleet from his mind

Kai Hiwatari had been at his door. But that wasn't what bothered Ray. What bothered him the most was the fact that the phoenix had been crying.

His slender frame had been shaking madly and he was sobbing uncontrollably into his hands, which the boy had covered his face with.

Unable to do anything else, Ray had led the weeping mess into his room. Where they had spent most of the morning with Kai crying his eyes out and Ray trying his best to comfort the distraught boy.

Placing his tea on the table, Ray leaned back into the couch and gave Kai a concerned look sideways.

After the phoenix had run out of tears, he had lapsed into a chilling silence. Staring unseeingly ahead of him, as if he was in a trance.

"Kai?" Ray asked hesitantly.

Kai just stared ahead, not hearing his teammate or just simply ignoring the other. His eyes were distant and blank, and had a kind of hypnotized look to them.

Scooting closer, the Chinese teen cupped one pale cheek, and turned the Russian to face him.

Crimson eyes, lacking its usual flame, stared dully into orbs of gold.

Ray traced his captain's cheek gently, and whispered softly, concern etched into his voice.

"What happened?"

"What happened?"

Eyes of crystal looked down in shock at the form on the ground. Kneeling down, Tala cupped a wet cheek and turned the other to face him.

"Kai, who did this?"

"Kai?"

Kai looked at him with strange clouded eyes before he seemed to finally snap back into the real world; they grew more focused and he seemed to notice Ray for the first time.

Ray watched as Kai's eyes grew wide with realization and shock, and before he could act, Kai was on his feet and running to the door.

The tiger blinked stupidly at the spot where his captain had previously sat. After a few seconds, his mind caught up and he swore, taking off after the other boy.

Turning a corner, Ray found Kai fiddling madly with the lock, trying to get the door of the room open.

Grabbing a hold of the phoenix, Ray forced the other boy around and to face him.

"Let go of me Kon!" Kai growled, his bangs hiding his face.

/Back to being a jerk I see…/ Ray thought exasperatedly. "Look Kai, just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, so let me let go!"

"Kai, I'm really not-"

Slam!

Ray tumbled backwards as the fist landed on his cheek. Landing on the floor, Ray looked up just as Kai managed to turn the lock.

His heart gave a frantic leap when he saw the knob turn. He knew that once outside, he'd never be able to catch up with the phoenix.

However, Fate seemed to be in Ray's favor today, for help came as soon as Kai got the door open.

The White-Tigers were shocked, to say the least, when a blue blur suddenly shot out of the door into them. Lee, who had had his hand poised in front of the door, ready to knock, received the full force of the impact. Stumbling backwards, he slammed into Gary, who in turn knocked over Kevin, who then pushed over Mariah. All of them tumbled, landing on top of the 'blue-blur'.

Dazed and confused, Lee looked up to see Ray appear at the door, holding his cheek and looking extremely relieved. Lee growled, and opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but stopped when he saw the younger Chinese looking at something else.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed his friend's gaze. His jaw dropping when he saw what it was the other teen was looking at.

Out of everything he had expected to see; Kai Hiwatari being practically squashed by Gary was definitely not one of them.

"Get off me you moron!" seethed a very angry and pissed off phoenix.

Gary apologized and lifted himself off the smaller boy. However, before Kai could get away, Ray managed to grab ahold of his arm.

Kai struggled futilely and his previous grief turned into anger.

"Dammit Ray! Let me go!" He shouted in frustration.

"No." The Neko-jin said firmly. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong! So just stay out of my damn business! I don't need your help! I don't need you!"

Now it was Ray's turn to get angry. The boy was really testing his patience. "If that is so, mind telling why you were knocking my door down this morning!"

Kai stiffened at the angry shout, and Ray continued, the White-Tigersbeing forgotten by the two.

"Do you want to tell me who it was that turned up at my doorstep, shaking like a leaf? Who it was that cried for 5 hours non-stop on my shoulder and who it was that ran away the moment I asked what was wrong!"

Kai gave a small whimper, small droplets of tears started to gather in his eyes, but Ray didn't notice. He just continued shouting.

"Why the hell do you come to me to seek comfort, only to throw it right back when I offer it to you! What the hell is your problem!"

Ray breathed deeply, he had said what he wanted to say, and it felt damn good to finally let off some steam. These past few weeks had been pretty stressful.

"Tala…"

Ray looked up at the whisper.

"T-Tala and I…"

Ray's eyes widened as Kai suddenly flung himself at him. Burying his face in Ray's shirt, the young Russian sobbed loudly.

"Ray, T-Tala and I….we…..we…"

To stunned to do anything else, Ray held Kai close to his chest, and tried in vain to comfort the weeping boy.

The White-Tigers said nothing, but only watched, as the Kai they had come to believe to be cruel and heartless, pour his heart out in an ocean of tears.

TBC

Err...for some reason, I really don't like the way this chapter turned out. There's just something about it that keeps bothering me...

Any how, I hope that people don't mind me pairing Ray with Max. As much as I like RayKai, TalaKai is still me favorite...>

Next chapter will clear things out a bit more. Like why Tala is protecting Kai and stuff like that.

Please review and tell me how I did oki?

Tata