A/N: Hey, there. Been a while, huh? Sorry about that. Once I finished the last chapter I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go, hence the wait. I finally figured it out, though. You all owe this chapter to HellX (I believe) for reminding me that I needed to write it. I never forgot about it, really, I suppose I just needed to be prodded into thinking harder about what I wanted to do. So, thank you for that! I'll try to be better about buckling down and writing. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's stuck with me so far, even with the terrible update times. This chapter is for all of you, with a special thanks to HellX. Much love!

Warnings: Contains yaoi, meaning male/male relationships. Don't like, don't read. It's quite simple, really.

Disclaimer: Wish I could lay claim to the wonderful anime called Beyblade, but sadly I can't. The bad guy, however, is mine. Feel free to borrow if you wish.

Pairings: Kai/Rei. What else would I write? Well, besides Tyson/Max.

Summary: Established Kai/Rei. Rei's been poisoned and it's unknown if he'll pull through. Can love do what medicine can't? …Man, that is such a crappy summary…it makes me cringe.

Finding You again

Chapter Four

Rei hadn't even flinched during the time it took Kai to get him back to the hotel. His countenance was frighteningly pale and he was completely unresponsive. Kai was fearing for the worst by the time the doctor and Mr. Dickenson arrived. They came bursting in the bedroom where Rei was residing.

"What happened?" the doctor demanded, shrugging out of his jacket. He immediately started taking instruments out of his travel bag.

"We were attacked in the park by another blader. Rei was bitten by his bitbeast. He's been unconscious for about twenty minutes and he's developed a fever of one hundred two. Before he passed out he said his body felt like it was on fire and it was hard for him to breathe."

The doctor nodded his thanks to Kai and started examining the neko-jin. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll both have to leave. I'll come get you when I'm done examining him."

Kai went to protest, but Mr. Dickenson's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Letting out a breath, he lowered his head and allowed himself to be led out of the room. Instead of taking up his customary place leaning against the nearest wall, he decided to claim the recliner for his own.

"Kai, tell us everything that happened," Mr. Dickenson requested.

The bluenet sighed. "I already told you what happened."

"Details, Kai."

"Rei and I were sitting up in a tree when Rei must have sensed something was off. He jumped down and was immediately attacked. When I reached the ground, Rei had managed to wound Jeremiah with his nails. Jeremiah basically became obsessed with Rei ever since they battled and didn't like the fact that he's dating me. He decided that if he couldn't have Rei then no one would and attacked with his bitbeast, Viporeon. He managed to get by Drigger and bite Rei in the shoulder. He spent a good few minutes pumping him full of venom," he added bitterly. "Jeremiah said that Rei will be dead in twenty-four hours. No antidote."

The others were silent while they digested the new information. Kai watched them as it sunk in that they might lose a friend. Max's eyes filled with tears instantly and he turned to bury his head in Tyson's chest. Tyson wrapped him in his embrace, eyes also wet with tears. Kenny just bowed his head, his face hidden from view by his bangs.

"I'm sure there's something the doctor can do," Mr. Dickenson said softly. "We can't give up yet, boys. Rei won't give up on us, so we can't give up on him."

"You're right, Mr. D. This is just something that the Bladebreakers will have to overcome, that's all," Tyson spoke up. "We can beat this."

Max pulled back and looked up at the BBA chairman. "Is there anything we can do in the meantime, Mr. Dickenson?"

The older man smiled down at him. "I don't think so, Max. Just rest and be strong. We just have to wait to see what the doctor says."

Max nodded and returned to Tyson's embrace. The waiting game was the hardest game of all.

-

"I'm sorry, guys. Jeremiah wasn't lying when he said there wasn't an antidote," Dizzy said from her place on the table in the middle of the 'living room' of the suite. "Or about Rei only have twenty-four hours."

"Can't we make an antidote?"

Kenny looked at Tyson with saddened eyes. "We don't have the time, not to mention the resources. We'd need…a week at best, and that's with the proper equipment and Viporeon's venom to work with. I don't know how we're gonna beat this."

Max said nothing, just curled in on himself a little more with a small whimper. Tyson was the only one who heard it and immediately sat back down from where he was pacing. Gently, he placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Max?"

Sniffling, he raised his head and looked pleadingly at his teammate. "I don't want Rei to die, Tyson. He's my big brother. I don't want to lose him."

Tyson quickly gathered him in his arms again as Max dissolved into tears. "I know, Maxie," he whispered soothingly. "I don't wanna lose him either. But this time I don't know what to do. The doctor said that he seems to be in some sort of coma, but he doesn't know what it's from and Rei doesn't show any signs of waking up."

"Dizzy and I will keep looking for something," Kenny said after a few moments of silence. "Why don't you go rest for a while?" He looked pointedly at Max.

Tyson nodded as he caught the look. "Come on, Max. Let's go lie down for a while. Kenny will come get us if he finds anything and Kai will let us know if anything changes. There's nothing we can do right now except rest and be strong like Mr. Dickenson said."

Max nodded and pulled slowly out of Tyson's arms, resisting the urge to crawl right back. Instead, he stood and walked back to the room he shared with the dragon blader. Once he was inside, he stood there, not knowing what to do. Distantly he heard Tyson shut the door behind him.

"Max?" Tyson looked at his friend, wondering why he hadn't moved. "Max, you okay?" Carefully, he placed a hand on Max's shoulder to get his attention. It seemed to work, as Max suddenly blinked and turned around. "Maxie?"

Looking at Tyson's concern, Max felt his eyes well with tears. "Tyson, I'm scared," he whispered. "I've never been scared like this before and I don't know what to do. Even when Mom moved and I was scared I'd never see her again, it wasn't like this. Rei's gonna die and…" Max paused and looked at Tyson with wide eyes. "Rei's gonna die!" he exclaimed with a sob. "Oh, God, Tyson! Rei's gonna die and I'll never see him again! I'll never blade with him again, he'll never cook us breakfast a-and cook you extra bacon because he knows it's your favorite…he'll never tease Kai…Kai! Tyson, we have to go see Kai! He's all alone in there! We have to see if he's all right!"

Tyson felt his heart break a little more at each panicked look his best friend gave him. It took him a moment to realize that Max had never lost anyone he loved before. This is the first time he's ever felt that kind of pain. Finally, he took Max in his arms again when he started talking about Kai. Even when he was hurt and panicking, he still managed to think about others.

"Max, it's okay! Kai will be fine. He probably wouldn't appreciate it if we intruded on him. I think he might like to be alone with Rei for a little while." With a little difficulty, he guided Max over to the bed and sat them both down. Tyson situated himself so he was leaning against the headboard so he could better support Max as the blonde buried his face in his chest again, trying to calm his breathing. "Look, even if the worst does happen and Rei…and we lose Rei, we'll get through it, okay? It'll be the hardest thing we've ever done but we'll still be together, we'll still be a team. And we'll be there for Kai, too. But right now we can't give up on him. Part of being a team is being able to trust your teammates. We have to trust that Rei's fighting his hardest to come back to us. We have to believe that he will."

By the time Tyson was done talking, Max had calmed down. His breathing was back to normal, he stopped shaking, and his tears were almost gone. After a few minutes he nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

The other boy blinked down at him. "For what?"

"For freaking out. That couldn't have been pretty." He chuckled lightly. "Guess I'm not too good in a crisis, huh?"

"That's not true. You've never lost anyone like this, have you?" Max shook his head. "So this is your first time really facing death. It's okay. Besides, even though you were panicking, you still thought of Kai. Even though you were scared and hurting you were still thinking of others."

Max smiled and snuggled deeper into Tyson's arms. "Thanks, Tyson." He was going to say something more, but got cut off by a yawn. "'m tired."

The bluenet smiled down at him. "Then go to sleep. I'll wake you up if anything changes."

"Mm'kay."

-

Rei opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness. He did open his eyes, didn't he? He reached up to his face and winced. Ow…yup, eyes are open. But where the hell am I and how'd I get here. The last thing I remember was… His eyes widened. Kai! He didn't get hurt, did he? Jeremiah better not have hurt him.

A moment later he scoffed at himself as the rest of the night came back to him. Kai didn't get hurt, I did. Of course Kai was fine. Kai's always fine. As hard as he tried to make it sound resentful, he just sounded relieved. But I bet he's worried sick about me, wondering where I am. Hell, I'm wondering where I am! He shivered as he started to feel all the warmth start to slowly drain out of him. Great. Dark and cold, just what I need. Looking around him, he tried to call on his neko-jin blood for his normally outstanding night-vision, but it didn't seem to help this time. He could feel his eyes shift from the effort he was putting into trying to see, but the darkness didn't change at all and he kept getting colder. Wherever he was, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so he decided to sit down and conserve what warmth he had left, hoping Kai would find him and bring him home.

Kai, where are you?

- - -

There it is. I know it's not my longest, but I promise to get right to work on the next chapter. If you feel the need, feel free to take a page from HellX's book and poke me. As you can see, reminders to help. Plus it makes me feel good to know that people are looking forward to my stuff. Thanks a bunch!