Ereshkigali: Guess what?

Ming Ming: What?

Ereshkigali: A semi-deranged, katana-wielding plot bunny called Fred popped up and bit me in the behind. I figured it would be best not to argue, so I kicked my sister out of the room, commandeered the computer and started typing.

Ming Ming: That means that I get to do a cute and witty disclaimer, does it not?

Ereshkigali: Of course.

Daichi: She's not even in this fic! Why does she get to do the disclaimer?

Ming Ming: Well, you're not in it either. Why does it matter? Ereshkigali doesn't own Beyblade. Hah!

Daichi: No fair. Why are we here, anyway?

Ereshkigali: Kai and Tyson were…otherwise occupied. Euphemistically speaking. Oh, let's just get on with the fic, shall we?

Chapter One

Silent Treatment

You were chewing on a blade of grass, your arms folded behind your head, your eyes gazing up into the warm, wide sky. The late, sweet sunlight shimmered down through the air and played on the rustling grasses as they rippled in the gentle, whispering breeze. You completely ignored me, of course, even when my shadow fell across your face. You know that you have a serious attitude problem, right? It involves being as mean as you possibly can to anyone who's trying to be nice to you even the littlest bit.

"Hey there, Kai," I said, sitting down cross-legged in the long grass next to you. "How're you doing?" I didn't expect him to answer. He's been talking even less than ever lately. "Hilary said that if you're going to stay with us, you have to say at least one word everyday. Otherwise she's kicking you out."

You gave this little puff of laughter, and this little almostsmile played around your lips.

"Hey! You smiled! That means you're in a good mood!"

You tilted your head ever so slightly, and spared me a second's glance. Your eyes, as always, were unreadable. Hey, I was used to it. You've always been the mysterious stranger or whatever. You've always been at the edge of everything, holding yourself away from us, keeping yourself apart. I don't mind, although I did at first. I get it now, though – that's just who you are. All that maters is that you're happy, and if wandering around by yourself glaring at invisible specks of dust is what you want to do, then I'm fine. What I know for sure is that you always turn up when we need you most. That's one of the best things about you: you're loyal. You don't act like it, but you are. I know that you'll do anything you've promised to do. It's how you are.

What you don't know is that I'd do anything for you.

I flopped down onto my stomach, folding my arms and laying my chin on them, letting the grass tickle my nose. I cold feel your ribs brushing against the tip of my elbow as you breathed in and out, and I liked the contact. You are my very favourite person, Kai, you really are. You're the strongest, more powerful, most passionate blader I know. I've watched you blade, and you're a different person. You don't hold yourself back. You don't scorn everyone and everything. You are free when you blade, Kai. I know that. There is this brilliance that burns inside of you, this fierce, intense power that transcends anything else I've ever known. You think I don't see, but I do.

I watched a beetle wobble its way up the slope of my hand, its shiny body red as a tiny, perfectly round drop of blood. Lifting my head, I blew on it gently, and it toppled over, flexed its small, soft wings, and flew away into the sky. "Aw, look at the little bug!" I said. "Kai…Kai, you didn't look! It was cute."

You turned your head very slowly, so that you were looking across at me, your eyes on mine. You said, warningly, "Tyson, I came here for some quiet."

"You're such a grouch," I muttered.

"You're an immature nuisance."

"I am not! You're the one who disappeared for three months last year."

"You knew where I was, Tyson. You're exaggerating," you said, closing your eyes and turning your face back up the sky. The sun was making your pale skin glow with a soft, golden warmth, so it was almost as though you were made of light. I let my head fall back onto my folded hands, and gazed across at you. I feel so much better just being near you, Kai. It's very cool to be able to think, Kai is my friend. Kai likes me. He's my friend.

"It was still kind of lonely without you," I mumbled, crossly. "You didn't call or anything."

"I was training. There was no time to call. Tala agreed with me," you said, your eyes still closed.

"We missed you," I said. You said nothing, but I swear I saw your jaw clench. I continued, "You like disappearing on us, don't you? I think you do it on purpose. You make us worry about you. You do it all for attention."

"There's only one person here who tries to attract attention," you said, pointedly.

"Kai, if you're feeling neglected, you don't have to go such lengths, you know," I said, beginning to grin wickedly. "I mean, you shouldn't keep emotions all bottled up inside you. You could have just told one of us that were feeling left out, or…"

Without saying a word, you let the thin blade of grass fall from your lips, and sat up and began pushing yourself off the ground. My grin faded, and I latched onto your arm, trying to pull you back down. You paused, balanced on your knees, and glared down at my arm. I didn't let go. "Dude, I was just teasing!" I said.

"Get your hands off me," you said in a low voice.

"Don't go," I pleaded. "I'm sorry, OK? I was just messing with you. I didn't mean it. I'll go, alright?"

"Let go of me, Tyson," you warned.

"You can't tell me what to do, Kai!" I yelled. "Stop bossing me around! You don't rule the world yet.'

"Tyson, stop it!" You jerked your arm away, fuming, and fell back into the grass, folding your arms behind your head again, crossing one leg over the other, your eyes firmly closed. I looked down at you, and suddenly felt really bad.

"Sorry," I said, awkwardly. "I didn't mean to…I'll go. I am just a nuisance."

"You don't have to go," you said, dully. "Stay if you want to. I don't care."

"No," I said, getting annoyed all over again. You can never just back down, can you? You always have to win. "I'll go. You don't want me here, I'm irritating you, and there's no point in just sitting here, anyway. It's OK, seriously.

"Tyson, I said that you could stay," you said. I knew that you were also getting annoyed.

"No. I'm going," I said, and got up, shrugging my jacket closer around me, jamming my cap down over my face. I hadn't taken three steps when I heard give an exasperated sigh, and say,

"Come back, Tyson."

"No," I said, without turning around. "You're just going to be mean again."

"I'm sorry," you said. I turned back to look at you. You were sitting up, glaring furiously at the ground, your arms hugging your knees. "Don't be stupid. Just sit down and shut up."

"Fine," I said, huffily. I wasn't exactly sure if I had won or lost that particular argument. I don't think he was either. I told myself that it didn't matter, and sat down next to him in the grass, determined to give him the silent treatment.

There was a small hitch in that plan, though.

See, if you want to ignore someone, they have to be talking to you. Then you can pretend not to listen. If they're just sitting there saying nothing, it isn't very obvious that you're ignoring them. Then you just have two people sitting together in silence, which doesn't really work that well. After a while, I said, sternly, "I'm not talking to you, you know."

"Really?" you asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um…yes!" I said, and folded my arms to prove my point. Then I frowned at him, narrowing my eyes and pouting my lips. To my annoyance, you gave a nasty little snicker and looked away, gazing out across the playground.

I followed suit. I like being up on the hill. It reminds of that time when we battled together after the whole BEGA fiasco ended. When you told us that Dranzer was gone, I swear I'd almost cried. You had just been standing there, your arms hanging limply at your sides, your eyes empty, your face impassive. Looking at you then had been horrible. I'd felt almost sick to realise how much you had given up. Your bravery was incredible. Kenny had worked his usual magic, though, and, in the end, Dranzer was fixed up better than ever, and we had bladed together again. That had been the best battle of my life, I swear. By that time, I knew you so well that each of your moves had made as much sense, had been as clear in my mind as my own. It was really and truly like battling myself, and I knew, looking across at you through the glow of our Bitbeasts and the swirling dust, that you had felt the same way.

I can't even remember who won, now. All I can remember is fighting you, is pushing myself to the limit, feeling your spirit pressed up against my own, so that in that moment we were closer than any embrace could bring us.

"It was the best, wasn't it?" you asked, a little stiffly, breaking into my thoughts.

"Yeah," I said, enthusiastically, my irritation forgotten. We both knew that we had been thinking the same thing. "I swear, I don't care how old I get to be. I'll always remember that, no matter what. It was like – I love it when we blade, Kai. You're…you're real, then. I know that you're not going just going to disappear. I know that you'll always be there."

You looked at me, and then smiled, this small, half-ashamed, tender smile: an apology for ignoring me for those three long months when we hadn't heard a thing from you, an apology for all the times you had cut me down or snubbed me. I hadn't need one. I said, clearing my throat, "That was you trying to say sorry, wasn't?"

You nodded.

"You didn't need to, you know."

You shrugged.

I punched you on the shoulder, lightly. "You numbskull."

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

"I'm not."

"Fine. I'm not talking to you."

In silence, we sat together on the warm, sunny hillside, remembering the same things, drawing the same comfort from each other's closeness. He was the most annoying, pig-headed, arrogant person I'd ever known, and he was the best friend I'd ever had. Weird how life does that to you, isn't it? We didn't need to say anything much. Sometimes, when it's between friends, a single look can mean more than any words.

The fact that I didn't think of him as only a friend anymore was, I told myself firmly, not important at all.

So we sat there for a while, looking out across the deserted playground, surrounded by silence and by sunlight.

Ereshkigali: OK, so this is mostly fluffy friendship at the moment, but it will develop into the hottest shonen-ai (which may end up raising the rating) I am able to write within the next few chapters. There are also going to be some weird time shifts – so one chapter will flashback to Kai going off to train in Russia for three months, while another will skip ahead to the future, and so on.

Kai: GAH! FLUFF BUNNIES! GET THEM OFF ME! DIE, RATS, DIE!

Ereshkigali: Hey, give me a break here. I don't actually have a plot yet, you know. Review, minions!