A/N: Oh, I was really stunned as I saw how many reviews I got in my first chapter. And I still am. You guys are amazing, I can't thank you enough. You really made me happy :) I hope you will like this one also and please review again to let me know what you think.

And by the way, I decided I won't make Rei hear a lot of thoughts, just some, otherwise it would be really difficult as I'm sure you understand.

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

Warnings: Swearing, shounen-ai (and yaoi but again not yet in this chapter)

"the speech will be like this"

"and the thoughts that Rei hears like this"

A faint sough is the first thing to break through my consciousness. Then a bright light trying determinedly to force its way through my eyelids. It reaches its goal as I slowly open my eyes a little. Then I open them fully, only to find the light annoying and then close them again. Where am I? Am I dead? Is this heaven? Is there even heaven? No, this is not heaven. If I was in heaven, I wouldn't be suffering from this headache. So what is this place? Again I hear the soughing sound trying to get my attention. Sighing I open my eyes again and turn my head a bit to see a small fan standing on a table next to my bed. A bed… a bed with white sheets. I allow my eyes to scan through the quite small and almost entirely white room. The only colourful details are some strange red patterns on the curtains. Then I realize that I'm in a hospital. Wonderful.

I take another look around the room. It's pretty dull actually, there's nothing on the walls. Opposite to my bed there is a small couch and next to my bed a one single chair. On the table next to the fan there is a clock telling it's almost six o'clock in the evening. What? I have been sleeping for almost five hours? I sigh heavily in frustration. Well then, I might as well sleep some more. Finding this decision satisfactory, I close my eyes almost immediately drifting into a peaceful slumber.

-----

"Rei?" I hear someone calling out my name from a distance. "Can you hear me?" I recognize that the voice belongs to Takao. I'm too sleepy to answer.

"Don't wake him up", Max hisses from somewhere above me.

"But he… I thought he was awake, I saw him move just seconds ago…" Takao defends himself. Now Max sighs.

"People can move in their sleep too you know"

Now I feel like I should say something. "It's ok Max, I'm awake" I open one of my eyes a little to see Max and Takao bent over me. Max is smiling somewhat sheepishly while Takao's face is twisted into an almost freakily big grin.

"Hi Rei! Are you okay? We were SO worried about you" Max speaks so fast I have troubles in following him.

I sit up on the bed, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine" I give him a warm smile. Then I remember Kai. I probably wouldn't be fine without him being there earlier. I quickly glance around the room, unable to see him. Fear creeps into me. What if he got hurt? "Where's Kai?"

"Don't know, he left a while ago without saying anything", Takao says and snorts. "Insensitive jerk" All of a sudden Takao's voice sounds somewhat echoing and distant. I frown. I turn my gaze to Max who is staring at Takao.

"He's cuter when he smiles…" I feel my eyes widen as I hear the same kind of echoing voice this time coming from Max.

"What?" I ask, shocked. I know Max likes Takao – heck, everybody knows – but I didn't know he's so open about it.

Max rips his eyes quickly off Takao's face and looks at me, blushing. "What? Did I say something?" His voice is shaking a bit. "God, did I say it out loud?"

I quickly move my eyes to look out the window behind him. "No I… just thought I saw something out there", I lie. Maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me. "But it was nothing"

Max looks relieved. "Right"

A few minutes later I hear the door open and break the awkward silence in the room. I turn my eyes to see who is coming. Kai walks in, stopping as he sees me. He is holding a disposable mug in his hand. Some stream is rising up from it telling it's something hot. It must be coffee.

"So you're up", Kai says casually. He sits on the couch opposite to my bed, taking a sip from his cup of coffee. I just stare at him although I know I should say something. I'm just too amazed. And that's not just because of him saying something without asking but also because he's here. It's like nine p.m. already and he is STILL here. And he saved me… possibly my life. Then it hits me, I really should say something.

"Umm… Kai?" The object of my amazement removes his gaze from his cup and looks at me straight in the eyes. His face isn't showing any emotion at all, as always. "I'm sorry" Still emotionless. "I mean thank you" Now Kai raises his mug to his lips taking another sip. I feel kind of stupid talking to him like this and getting no answer at all. Not that I'm surprised or anything. "I mean… are you ok? Did you get hurt?" Are you mad at me? Do you hate me now?

He's looking at me again. "I'm fine", he answers in monotonous tone. "I don't mind you falling on me" I hear him say the words in his usual sarcastic tone although I can't see his lips moving. It's the same thing as it was with Max and Takao earlier. What's going on in here? Am I hearing their thoughts or something? If that's the case then it means Kai is being heartless bastard in his mind also. My God, he hates me.

"Rei?" Max's voice brings me back to reality. I turn my head so that I'm facing him again. "It just popped in my mind that should we call Bryan and Tala not to come?" Why should we do that? Aha! I know this one: He's trying to avoid meeting them. I look at Max questioningly. "I mean now that you had that accident, so maybe they shouldn't come"

A smile finds its way to my lips as I shake my head. "No, I'm perfectly fine. The doctor told me an hour ago as I was awake for a brief moment that it was just a mild concussion and I will be totally fine tomorrow" Max nods. "But I have to stay here the night"

Takao grins. "Good, then we will pick you up tomorrow" I answer him with a smile and a nod.

Kai stands up, gaining everyone's attention. "We're leaving", he informs Takao and Max before walking to the door but then being stopped by Takao's protest.

"Why already?" Takao whines, getting a death glare from the slate-haired boy.

"Get moving" the order comes in even more cold voice than usually. If that's possible.

"Fine", Takao mumbles as he reluctantly walks after Kai who has already disappeared through the doorway. "Jerk off will you" I hear his mind curse before he walks out of sight.

I let out a chuckle and turn my eyes to Max. He's smiling.

Then he steps closer and hugs me. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt" He tightens his hold a bit. "Sometimes even Kai can do something good"

I giggle a bit, hugging him back. "You should get going or you'll have to regret saying that"

"Yeah" Max lets go of me and smiles. "See you tomorrow!" with that he runs out of the room.

For what seems like forever, I just sit on my bed. Thinking. What is happening to me? Am I really hearing thoughts of other people's? Or am I just going crazy? Yeah, I vote for the latter one. I close my eyes and sigh. Really, it's not natural to hear thoughts now is it… Of course it's not. I'm just tired that's all. I shall get to sleep now and in the morning I'm normal again.

Nodding to myself I slide down to lay on my back. My eyelids are feeling really heavy now as I take a look at the clock on the table. It's half past nine p.m. I don't usually go to sleep this early but since I've already slept the whole day it doesn't matter. And besides I'm really tired. Probably because of the stupid concussion… Before I even notice, I fall asleep.

-----

I'm standing in front of the window of my hospital room, watching some people walk and kids play in a small park behind the hospital. It's cloudy outside but still I can tell it's warm. Maybe the sun will shine later today. Or then it will rain. Or the weather will just stay gloomy.

I hear a knock on the door before it opens and someone walks in. I turn around to meet a probably middle-aged man dressed in a long, white coat. He smiles at me and nods his greetings. I answer him with a slight nod.

"How are you feeling today?" the doctor asks his voice calm and caring, for some reason giving me the impression he thinks he's talking to a little child. This irritates me but I decide not to make a scene out of it.

"I'm alright"

The white-coated man nods slowly. "So you don't feel dizzy or have any headache?" What's with the bonus questions? I guess it's part of his job.

I shake my head. "Not in the slightest" Somehow I don't feel very talkative at the moment. Maybe it's because I don't like hospitals and I want to get back to the hotel as soon as possible.

"Good", the man smiles. He glances at my outfit. I've already changed the hospital clothes to my own, much better looking ones. "Then you are free to go when ever you wish to"

"Thanks" Actually I've already called my friends to pick me up. I glance at the clock. It's ten till eleven a.m. I should get down to the lobby already so they won't have to come all the way up here.

The doctor turns around and walks to the door but then stops and turns to face me again, smiling. "Be more careful from now on, ok?" I nod obediently. "Good", he says before walking out of the room.

I also leave the room, heading to the elevator and as it stops at the ground floor I make my way to the waiting room and sit down on a chair. They should come soon. As if ordered, the sliding double doors open and in walks a laughing Takao and behind him even more laughing Max. I raise an eyebrow at them. Somehow I feel like I don't even want to know…

"Hey guys", Seems like they notice me only when I greet them.

"Hi Rei, did you have to wait for long?" Takao asks as he gets rid of his laughing fit.

I smile and stand up. "No, just got here"

"Great, and now we can go" Takao pulls the still chuckling Max back towards the door. "We took a taxi. It's waiting outside" I nod and follow them to the car. I sit on the passenger's seat while Max and Takao jam themselves to the backseat.

I stay silent the whole way to the hotel, watching buildings slide by. The weather is still gloomy but still the streets are filled with people. In the backseat, Max and Takao are chatting and every now and then I hear some laughter and even some words of argument. What they are talking about I don't know since I'm not paying attention that much. It's rude to listen to others' private conversations though I doubt they are talking about anything that personal.

Finally Max opens the door to our hotel room and we step in. It's quiet and it seems like no one is home. Or Kai to be exact. I wander to the living room. I'm happy to see Max and Takao haven't messed up the whole place while I wasn't around. To be honest I was a bit worried.

"We baked you a cake!" Max's cheerful voice scares me as I didn't hear him following me. I spin around to face him. A cake? How am I not surprised?

"That's nice", I say smiling. "Don't eat it while I'm taking a shower" with that I make my way to my and Kai's bedroom, finding the slate-haired boy lying on his bed and listening to music with his headphones. His eyes are closed and he looks so peaceful that I don't even know if he's awake.

Quietly I grab a towel from my dresser and go to the bathroom locking the door behind me. After taking a quick shower, I wrap the towel around my waist and sneak back to our room to find Kai still in the same position as earlier. I open my dresser and start rummaging through my clothes, trying to decide what to wear. Finally I pick out black baggy pants and a white Chinese shirt.

After changing, I sit down on my bed and start dealing with my hair, opening the tangles using my fingers. I sigh. This is going to take a while. Then, as a few minutes have passed, I pick up a hairbrush from my nightstand but accidentally drop it. An evil, thudding sound is heard as it contacts with the floor making me gasp and quickly glance at the still peaceful-looking Russian.

As if sensing my eyes on him Kai smirks. "I'm not asleep"

I open my mouth to answer but Takao's yell from the kitchen interrupts me. "Rei, Kai! Get your lazy butts over here NOW"

I brush my hair hurriedly and reach out a hand to grab a white band from the table to put my hair up with.

"You should leave your hair down" I stop dead as I hear Kai's echoing voice from above me. I look up to find his cold crimson eyes staring at me. "Are you coming?"

"In a minute…" I hear myself replying in an unfamiliar voice. Kai smirks again and leaves the room shutting the door behind him.

I stare at the door for a moment, stunned. So I didn't get rid of the thought-hearing ability. Maybe I still can handle this, it's not like I hear them a lot. I wrap my hair up with the band despite my roommate's silent request and head to the kitchen.

I step in to the room just in time to see Max slapping Takao's hand away from the cake and Kai sending death glares equally to both of them. I can't help chuckling at my team as I take my seat at the table. Almost immediately Max shoves a plate with a slice of cake on it in front of me.

When everyone has their plates I grab my teaspoon and sink it into my slice of cake. When eaten the first spoonful I turn to smile at Max. I assume he was the one to make the cake, Takao is such a butterfinger. "Did you make this yourself?" The boy nods. "It's really good"

Now Max gives me a grateful smile. "Thanks", he says earning a glare from Takao.

"I helped you, you know"

Max turns to look at Takao. "You ate half of the ingredients…" "Yeah a bit", he says out loud. Soon his eyes widen slightly. "Did he just kick my foot..?" The blond boy steals a glance at the navy-haired one, who seems to be too focused on eating to notice this. "I'm gonna kick him back" I look down to my cake to hide the smile that spreads across my face.

A comfortable silence falls into the kitchen as we continue eating.

Then I notice a cherry standing proudly on top of my cake. Without further thinking I snatch it and start licking some whipped cream from its surface. I look at Takao and Max. They are eating quietly, both staring at their plates. I grin. They are probably playing footsie under the table. Then I let my eyes land on our captain sitting opposite to me. He's poking his slice of cake like it was poisoned.

All of a sudden he raises his head, locking his eyes with mine. Neither one of us makes an effort to look away.

The situation stays as it is for moments until a smirk finds its place on Kai's lips. "If you don't start eating properly I will have to throw you on this very table and ravish you right now" I feel my eyes widen as I hear his mental threat. Then I realize that I'm still rolling the poor cherry between my tongue and my fingers. Yes, it may look a bit seductive… Quickly I eat the cherry and move my gaze back to my plate, blushing furiously. Why is he thinking such things? I know, he knows I can hear his thoughts so he is just teasing me. Yeah that's how it must be.

"Hey, let's eat quickly, we have to pick up Bryan and Tala from the airport", I mumble just loudly enough for the others to hear.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot", Max exclaims, not noticing my uneasiness.

So, we eat quickly and I call a taxi to pick us up. Then we make our ways down to the lobby to wait for it. All this time I try to avoid making eye contact with the slate-haired Russian. Now I'm really starting to doubt if I can handle this thought-hearing thing.