Adoring Thank You Note to My Oh-So-Amazing Reviewers: I'm going to start off with saying thanks first, instead of leaving it till last like I usually do. This is because the reviews for the last chapter were some of the mostpostive I've ever gotten! Ditto the ones of r my oneshot Afterwards! Thank you guys so, so much! I'm nervous about posting this now…it's a bit shorter than the last one, and was written in something of a hurry. The choir's been preparing for the end-of-term concert, and I've been writing end-of-term tests, so I didn't have too much time to work on it. I think it came out OK, though.

Warnings: I promised you a kiss, and you got a kiss. This is shonen-ai, just by the way, but I think you might have noticed that by now. Also…my first OC? I guess. She's just mentioned briefly to make it more realistic. I think that Tyson, being the all-round adorable little dude that he is, by the age of almost eighteen would have been kissed before at least once.

Disclaimer: No ownership of characters, no ownership of Beyblade, no money being made, no sanity of any kind. That good enough for you?

Chapter Seven:

Stay With Me

Take it from me: trying to pick your way across the rock pools in the dark at nine o' clock in the evening without breaking your neck while trying very hard not to stare at the person you've only had a crush on forever is not an easy thing to do. But I managed it at last, stumbling my way across the expanse of rock that stretched out into the water, coming to stand a little way behind Kai. He was perched there, one leg dangling down over the edge of the rocks, the other drawn up to his chin. He was just…staring. At nothing. He must have a really interesting life.

Come to think about it, though, I probably stare even more than he does – mostly 'cause I spend so much time staring at him. Heh. Oh, come on, the guy's hot! And I…may not be completely straight anymore.

Actually, scratch that. I'm not straight. End of story. I figured that out ages ago. Kind of around the same time I figured out that yeah, Kai could be evil and all, but he could also be strong, and loyal, and trustworthy, and honourable, and caring, and a whole bunch of other nice things.

What can I say? I'm not going to try and explain it or anything. Kai says I'm reckless, and maybe I am, but I just never got that whole "look-before-you-leap" thing. I don't see why you should sit around trying to analyse every teeny-tiny little detail…plus, I've got the Chief to do that for me. I guess I always figured that if you spend too much time trying to work out what might happen, you never really get around to seeing what does happen.

And what did happen was that Kai became special to me.

Anyway, the point is that I'd scrambled across the rocks and the stones and the seaweed and the seashells, and that I was about to try my hardest to understand just what exactly went on in that very weird mind of his. Let's go over it one more time, shall we? Just in case I missed anything the first billion times I'd thought the past few days through. Over the course of seventy-two hours, he had let me sleep in his arms, told me he would do anything for me, saved my life, and tried to kiss me not once but twice. I may not be the world's most observant guy, but that surely meant that something was up, didn't it? Didn't it?

Or maybe he was just having fun trying to mess my head around.

I wouldn't put it past him. He is Kai, after all.

I walked quietly across the small space remaining between us. The rocks were a little damp with salty water, and the small grazes that had opened on my feet stung a little, but I didn't mind. I plopped down next to him and said, quietly, my voice almost swallowed up by the gentle sighing-sucking-swishing sounds of the waves, "Hey."

His scarf had been pushed up so that it hid most of his mouth, so his voice came out kind of muffled, but still as carefully emotionless as ever. Does he think it's cool to act tough? 'Cause it's not cool, it's just annoying. "Hello, Tyson," he said, still looking out over the black water, his eyes reflecting the moonlight. Looked like he wasn't in a talking mood. I felt a little twinge of annoyance and regret. I like talking to him. I scooched closer to him, shifting so that my feet dangled down into the cold water. My toes curled up automatically as they touched the icy surf, then relaxed as I swished them around a little. It was pretty cold now that the sun had gone down. It was getting to be autumn, and the night breeze off the sea was chilly. I shivered a little, pulling my jacket closer around me, and looked at Kai.

The moon was full, hanging heavy and silver on the lip of the ocean, its light painting a spider-webbed path of dewy grey on the water, washing faintly over his form. It glowed gently on the curve of his hunched neck, on his hair, on his arms. He must be cold, too, I realised, seeing as he wasn't wearing his jacket. Idiot. Did he want to catch pneumonia or something? "Aren't you freezing?" I asked him, frowning.

"No," he said, still staring out across the water.

"Dude, Hilary's going to kill me if you catch cold," I said. "Let's get back to the others. We've got hot chocolate!"

"I'm staying here," he informed me.

"Marshmallows!" I crooned, batting my eyes at him. "Come on, Kai! Soft, sweet, delicious marshmallows…"

"Did you not hear me, Tyson?" he snapped.

"You know you want them, Kai. Give in to temptation. The marshmallows are calling to you…"

He finally turned his head to look at me, sighing. "That's enough, Tyson," he said. "I'm – staying - here." He spaced the words out deliberately, emphasising each one.

"Fine," I said, breezily, shrugging. "See if I care. If you want to be by yourself, you can just tell me next time. You don't have to do the whole get-out-of-my-face-I-hate-the-world thing." I got up, like I was going to walk away.

For a moment he said nothing; he just sat there, hunched up into himself; then, as I began to walk away purposely slowly, out of the corner of my eye I saw him twisting round, and heard him call, in a breathless, embarrassed voice, "Tyson…wait…I…"

I grinned into the darkness. Everything was going exactly according to plan. Resisting the urge to break out into full-scale evil laughter, I retraced my steps. He was determinedly not looking at me. Kneeling down next to him, resting my chin on his shoulder, I whispered smugly into his ear, "And if you want me to stick around, you can tell me that, too."

"Back off," he muttered. I obediently sat back, still grinning, crossing my legs to get more comfortable. See, before he'd practically been ignoring me. Now he was just annoyed, which meant that he'd probably do whatever it took to get me out of his hair - like answering my questions. I swear, I know him way too well. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Duh," I said. "You're so easy, Kai - a complete pushover."

"So why do you want to talk to me so much?" he asked. "Whatever the reason, make it quick."

"Well, you know, the main reason is that for some strange reason I actually like hanging out with you," I said. "The other reason is that I what to ask you something."

"And that something is, exactly?" he asked, grumpily.

OK. Deep breath. Just ask. It's not going to get you killed. "Are you…you know…seeing anyone?"

"No. Are we done?"

"Almost," I said. Well, I'd known the answer to that one. I'd have known if he was going out with anyone. I'd spent every single day of the past two months with him – making up for lost time, I guess. One of the worst things about not having him on my team for the last Championships had been how lonely things got without him. I thought about him almost every day he wasn't with me. Anytime there was even a chance we'd see each other, I would get really nervous and worked-up – and when I did see him, I would feel jittery and dizzy. Even the smallest glimpse I caught of him was special, was precious. I missed him more than I'd ever have thought possible. When he'd come back into my life, I'd wanted to make sure that never happened again. I barely let him out of my sight. Even the thought of losing him again freaked me out. So now for the next question. It was actually kind of pointless me asking, seeing as I doubted I'd get a true answer, but I wanted to have some sense of stability. Even if the answer was a lie, I wanted that lie for reassurance. So I said, teasingly, "Is there a certain someone you'd want to be involved with?"

"What is the point of this?" he asked, tiredly.

"Nothing," I said, innocently. "I just want to know."

"Know what?"

I smirked at him. "All about your love life – and details are important."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "You're Kai. Everyone wants to know about your love life. Half the girls in the world are in love with you." I pondered this. "Of course, the other half is in love with me."

"I think you'll find you're mistaken there," he said, darkly.

"Hey!" I protested. "I'm cute, aren't I? I have charm. I have talent. I'm a pro sporting personality over here! I happen to have major appeal."

"Someone seems to have lost touch with reality," he commented snidely, but it was almost like there was this tinge of affection in his voice.

"Are you going to be mean or are you going to answer the question?" I pouted.

He sighed. "If you think I'm going to waste my time on something like this…"

"So you do like someone!"

"Excuse me? I don't recall saying that."

"You're avoiding the question!" I told him. Man, I was enjoying this! "You don't want to answer! Come on, own up. Who's the lucky lady? Maybe not so lucky, actually…gah! Imagine having you as a stalker…"

"Tyson, this is none of your business," he insisted.

"I want it to be my business," I said, simply.

"Well, it isn't."

"You're no fun, you know that?"

"If I'm no fun, why are you still here?"

The real answer? Because I was practically in love with him, that was why. The answer I gave him? "Because you still haven't answered my question."

"And guess what?" he said, bitingly. "I'm not going to."

"I'm just going to have to guess who it is then," I said, gleefully. "So let's see. Ming Ming?"

"That pathetic excuse for a blader?" he scoffed. "Get real, Tyson."

"I don't know," I said, trying to be fair. "She's actually a pretty serious blader. She was really tough competition. She beat Daichi, after all. Besides, she's nice. We talked to her once, after BEGA closed down, remember?"

"I remember," he said, snickering. "That was when Kenny fainted."

I snorted out loud with laughter. That had been the most hilarious thing ever. "Yeah…he finally got her autograph, and she kissed him on the cheek, and he just passed out cold. Hilary was so mad. She never liked Ming Ming, did she? Don't know why…" I winked at him. "She's hot – and she's really sweet when she's not working for that loser Boris."

He didn't say anything, but just sort of kept really, really still.

Oops.

I couldn't remember the last time we'd even mentioned Boris, or Voltaire, or any of that stuff. Hey, it wasn't like I wanted to talk about it. Even being in that Abbey place for those few minutes had creeped me out – and Kai had grown up there. I didn't even want to think what it must have been like for him. It's been a long time since then, but I still get mad thinking about it. How could anyone do things like that to kids? How could anyone do that to Kai?

And if I got mad about it, I couldn't even begin to imagine how he must feel.

I felt like kicking myself.

"Um. Sorry," I said, my voice a little hoarse. I winced even as I said it. Like one little word was going to make it better.

He looked at me, turning his head so that he could rest his cheek on his knee. Moonlight was shining in his eyes, and there was this weird expression on his face, angry, but resigned. It made my heart ache to see him like that. "It's OK, Tyson," he said, gently – well, gently for him, anyway. "It's over. I'll never have to see him again. He's gone. He's not a part of my life anymore. I don't have to exercise because a team of experts is forcing me to. I don't have to train with electrodes strapped all over me. I don't have to blade because of someone else's dreams of power. I can blade because it's what I love doing. I can blade with you, and that's more important than anything else. Everything that happened then is over."

Oh, man.

How brave is that? Just how insanely, unbelievably, impossibly brave is that? How does he do it? How can one person be so strong? I couldn't look away from him. Swallowing, I began in a small, broken voice, "Kai…"

"Don't," he said, still in that same soft, resigned tone. "I know what you're going to ask, Tyson, and don't. You don't ever have to worry about me. I'm fine. You're the one I worry about."

"I worry about you," I said, before I could stop myself. "Every day. Every day, the first thing I think about is you, if you're OK, what you're doing, when I'm going to see you, if you're in a good mood or not, what you'll be wearing…dude, I…I want you be OK. More than anything, I just want you to be alright, and…and…"

Yup, I was babbling. Mentally, I was hitting myself on the head. Hard. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't look away from his gaze. It was almost frightening to see him so close, so beautiful, his eyes fixed on mine, intense and unwavering. I was so sure that he could see how much I cared about him. I loved him so much. Surely it was showing in my face…surely he had seen…what would he do…?

In a voice that was barely more than the quietest, harshest whisper, he said, "Do you mean that?"

"Yeah," I squeaked, helplessly. And after that, it was like, what the hell? You've told him too much already. Anything you say from now on is just going to make it worse, so why not tell the truth? So I cleared my throat, and repeated, softly, but in a clear voice, "Yeah. I do, Kai. Every word."

Moving so slowly that he hardly seemed to be moving at all, he shifted so that he was facing me entirely, kneeling in front of me. Our knees were touching. Eye contact broken, I stared down at my hands, fidgeting. This was not working. Eventually, I said, "I guess the others will be wondering where we are." When he still said nothing, I took a deep breath, and, watching my hands intently, said, "Look, I said you just had to tell me, right? If you want me to go, I will."

There was the tiniest pause, and then he said, in the smallest, most vulnerable voice I'd ever heard him use, "What if I want you to stay?"

I looked up at him, slowly raising my head to look at him, at the face I've known for so long, at the smile, half-formed and hesitant, and into the eyes, glittering in the moonlight with a bright, hopeful force that I'd sometimes glimpsed but never understood before. I found myself smiling back, unable to stop myself, and his hands covered mine, our fingers locking together. The touch made my heart begin to beat faster and faster, while something constricted in my chest. A knot of nervousness began to squirm in my stomach. Now what? Damn it, he was so close, and suddenly all I could focus on was the feel of his strong, square fingers curled around my own, and the smoothness of his cold skin. Slowly, slowly, his hands began to stroke my own, our fingers playing, entwining, tightening round each other in mock-battles of strength, caressing the length of my palm. My breathing was quick and hard. What was he doing?

OK, bit of a stupid question there.

I couldn't look at him. I just closed my eyes. His hands left mine, snaking up my arms, tickling me, stroking me, dancing across my skin until I could feel myself flushing, and hear my heartbeats were shuddering in my ears. Everywhere he touched me, I could feel my skin tingling, burning, even though his skin was cold. I'd wanted this for so long. I could barely breathe. He'd reached my shoulders now, and his fingers had slipped under my top, brushing my collarbones with his thumbs, moving up my neck, sliding his fingers into my hair, cupping my face, tilting it upwards. My heart thrumming wildly, every nerve in my body prickling, I opened my eyes just as his lips brushed mine.

For a moment, the world hung frozen. Between heartbeat and heartbeat we stared at each other, the cool air of the night and the dim, icy starlight glimmering in his eyes. The roar of the waves was suddenly very, very loud, pounding and crashing and churning all around us, a sea of sound that all but drowned us –

And then he bent his head back down and opened my mouth with his, and the shock and the joy and the pleasure soared through me as his hands left my face and trailed back down my neck, one cradling my head, the other slipping down across my stomach and up under my shirt. I broke away, gasping, fighting the urge to laugh uncontrollably, and threw my arms around him, burying my nose in his shoulder, finding his neck with my mouth and kissing it again and again, clinging to him desperately as his hands found their way everywhere, running along my back, stroking my chest, pulling my hair loose. I think my cap had fallen off. I didn't care. This was insane – in a very, very, very good way. I let my hands wander up to his hair, and, still kissing his neck, worked my way up until I'd found his mouth again. He was straddling me now, kneeling over me, and, little by little, was pushing me down, kissing me fiercely, taking in these huge, gasping sobs of breath, his hands folded around my head.

I was lying against the rock now, and his lips left mine, and travelled down along my jawbone to my neck, nibbling and licking my skin with the most gentle, infuriating touch. I think I heard myself moan slightly. All I could do was stare up at the stars, scattered like powdered glass across the sky, and lie there, lost in this rapture, this totally unreal perfection, while he kept kissing me. My entire body was pulsing with simultaneous enjoyment and total disbelief. I can remember thinking hazily, "No way is this real. I am so dreaming." Then his mouth found mine again, and I kind of forget everything. His touch was searingly, brutally powerful, ferocious and limitless. Of course it was. This was Kai – Kai who made everything into a competition, Kai who was strong enough not to need anyone else, Kai who had never, ever, ever shown any sign of liking anyone at all, Kai who was now sprawled on top of me doing some serious kissing.

Life sure gets interesting.

He broke off slowly, reluctantly, his breathing quieting, his lips closing on mine in a last achingly tender kiss, pulling back so that he could look at me. I gazed up at him dreamily. "Well, hey there, Kai," I said shakily, blinking dazedly, this happy little smile taking over my face and refusing to go away. "That was fun."

But there was something wrong with him – the look on his face – it was that look of self-disgust again, that shocked, disbelieving anger at himself. He was staring down at me in some kind of horror, his eyes stretched wide, his lips parted slightly, his jaw clenched. His breaths were quickening again, and he looked completely terrified. He opened his mouth as though he were going to say something, closed it again, swallowed harshly, squeezed his eyes shut like he was going to cry, and then he was gone, and I was left lying on the cold, damp rocks.

OK, so it wasn't like it was my first kiss ever. There had been this one chick who'd liked me a lot when I was around fifteen. I'd liked her too – she was really friendly and encouraging and funny. She and Hilary would probably have gotten on well together. She was a great friend, and yeah, she kissed me once. It was right before she and her family got on the plane to go to England for the rest of her schooling. Thing is, although I reallyhad liked her, I hadn't like her.

I had liked Kai.

I still liked Kai.

And I had absolutely no idea whether or not he liked me.

I think it was several minutes before I got up again, and began walking slowly back towards the house. Great. Just great. What was that about? Had he kissed me and realised all of a sudden that he hated me? Or was he going to pull his usual I-stand-alone-for-I-am-the-mighty-Kai-so-bow-down-before-me thing? Or was he going to be all stupid and noble and not like me for some idiot reason like he thought he wasn't good enough? Or…or what? What was it? What kind of guy breaks off in the middle of kissing you and runs off looking like the world's going to end?

Maybe he remembered he accidentally left metal in the microwave.

Don't look at me like that! It was a possibility.

Whatever the reason, he was going to have some serious explaining to do.

I didn't find the others on the beach. It figured. They would have gone in a little before, after it had started to get cold. It's only strange people like Kai who like to sit outside and freeze to death half the night. So I headed on up to the house. I was going pretty slowly, mostly 'cause I was still working out how exactly I was going to kill Kai for this.

You know, if I'd just walked a little bit quicker, I could have saved myself so much more trouble later on.

I guess it took me about ten minutes to reach the house. It looked kind of pretty, the lights glowing warm and orangey-yellow against the black sky. Kai was going to get it, I promised myself. Right after I'd had something to eat. I was starving.

Maxie was waiting for me at the door. I looked at his face and knew that something bad had happened. "Tyson," he said, in this very small, very nervous little voice, "would you like the good news or the bad news first?"

"The…good news?" I guessed, standing on tiptoe and looking over his shoulder for Kai.

"OK, well, there are still loads and loads of marshmallows left," he said.

"Good!" I said. That was something nice, anyway. Random, but nice. Moving on. "Have you seen Kai? I need to punch his big fat head in."

Rei drifted into view, followed by Hilary. "That's the bad news," he said. "Tyson…Kai left."

It didn't hit me for a full five seconds. Eventually, I said, "Uh…what?"

"He left," Hilary said. "He didn't even look at us, Tyson – he just ran to his room, came back two minutes later with his suitcase, and stormed out. Tyson…"

"What?" I said again. It just wasn't registering.

"He's gone," Maxie said.

"But," I began, and stopped. Not again. Not again. He was not doing this to me again. No way. Not happening. "But…" I tried again. This was not cool. Oh, please no. "But…" I sniffed, and swallowed, feeling my lip beginning to tremble. I rubbed my hand across my face angrily, trying to get rid of the tears, and looked up to see Maxie watching me. He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it tightly.

"I know," he whispered, so that the others couldn't hear. "I know, Tyson. I'm sorry."

Right then, I wasn't even bothered about how he knew, or how much he knew. I was just grateful that he was there. I don't know what I'd do without Maxie, I really don't. I smiled weakly, and whispered, "Thanks. I…hey, I'm just going to go…see…" He nodded, and slipped his hand off my shoulder, and I walked slowly down the hallway, turning left into the room where Kai had slept.

The bright lights of the house had hurt my eyes after being outside for so long, but Kai's room was dark. As I pushed open the door, the light from the hallway fell in a soft, yellow beam onto the small table beside his bed, and struck something that glittered slightly. Numbly, I walked through the doorway and reached out a trembling hand for the small, bright thing that lay on the painted surface of the wood, and caught it in my palm, my fingers curling around it so tightly that the metal attack ring dug deep grooves into my skin. I sat down on the bed, my legs refusing to hold me up, feeling hot tears of misery and fury leak from eyes and drip down my face.

Dranzer.

He hadn't taken Dranzer.

How could he? How could he do this to us? Again? Did he really and truly think that he could just walk in and out of our lives like it didn't matter? Didn't he know by now how much I loved him? Was he so thick that he hadn't noticed how much he meant to me, how much I depended on him being there for me, how much I cared for him? Didn't he see?

I felt bruised and hollow. It had all happened so quickly. One minute we were talking about girls, the next we were making out, and the next he'd disappeared. He was gone. Again

And he hadn't taken Dranzer.

I knew then that he wasn't coming back.

Am I the only one who thinks that that kiss went on for way too long?

Ooh! (points) Another cliff-hanger! (pokes the nice evil cliff-hanger) Remember that plot I managed to formulate? Yeah, well, it only went up to this chapter. I am not at all sure about what happens next. As usual, I will dedicate the otherwise unproductive forty-five minutes a day spent in maths class to working out what Tyson will do to win the heart of his true love. I think so much better when I'm supposed to be doing something else. Why is that?

Anyway, reviews would be highly, highly appreciated…especially ones with ideas for the continuation of the plot! Inspiration-mine be dead!